MLB May Soon Allow Players in Future Olympics
August 2, 2008 by Ribbie3b
Filed under Baseball News
When you think of the Olympic Games very few people associated Olympic competitions with baseball. Maybe it has to do with regulations by the MLB not allowing their players to participate in one of the ultimate sports experiences in the history of man-kind. Foreign players and players who are not associated with the MLB are responsible for keeping the game of baseball in session during the summers that host the events.
The reason Major League Baseball does not allow players to participate is because of the games taking place just about mid-season during the All-Star break. So the options now lie on the table. Take a longer All-Star break with the addition of a few extra days, or scratch the idea of seeing the Major League players we all love or love to hate and baseball all together from the Olympic agenda.
Already, the International Olympic Committee has dropped baseball and softball from the 2012 Summer Games in London, and the sports would have to be voted back into a future Olympics.
This focus on baseball in the Olympics is now gaining more attention than ever, since it has been excluded in 2012. Many are blaming the MLB for ruining a world tradition.
Major League Baseball, the IBAF (International Baseball Federation) and the IOC are working diligently to have a system where our big leaguers are playing,” said MLB vice-president and Team USA general manager Bob Watson during the naming of the Beijing squad on Wednesday. “I think if Chicago or Tokyo would win Olympics for 2016, those countries are baseball countries, and they have venues.
“I believe they are trying to work up something, you have a few years to get a plan. There are a lot of moving parts but don’t rule it out.
Now that baseball and softball has been dropped from the Olympic Games the MLB is trying to avoid taking the heat for the games removal. Right?
Who watches the Olympics anyway! The all-star game will always be a crowd pleaser by far!
This article points out a serious problem for the MLB!!!
The Olympics involve some pretty major drug testing of the athletes.
As I understood thing, drug testing to the same extent does not occur in MLB which may well lead to some embarrassing revelations should the IOC test the players.
BASEBALL IS NOT A SPORT!
Screw baseball!
I can understand humans getting all crazy about football (that’s soccer for you USians) – but baseball?
Besides couple of hundred USians and Japanese – really, who gives a flying flack?
Oh… and stop calling it “World Series”. Its… so 2nd grade.
This is the most illogically thought out piece I’ve ever seen here. MLB hasn’t allowed their players to play in the olympics ever. Why on earth would you blame a NON-POLICY-CHANGE on the part of MLB as the cause of removing baseball from the Olympics?
This article is wrong right off the bat. The Olympics don’t take place during the All Star Break, they start about a month later.
The Olympic games were originally scheduled this year for July 25th, but were moved to August 8th because of weather concerns.
http://english.people.com.cn/200306/30/eng20030630_119135.shtml
Major team sports don’t belong in the Olympics anyway. Baseball has it’s own international tournament now – the World Baseball Classic.
The Olympics are suppose to bring the best athletes in the world together to compete..you don’t think American baseball players rank as some of the top athletes in the world?
I’ve never really considered team sports, will have to give that some thought. I am sure that anything that needs a judge to pick the winner is not a sport, even though the competitors are highly talented athletes. So if it’s judged and not officiated, get rid of it!
Another real problem is the networks make it very difficult to watch the olympics on television in the US. Apparently if its an athletic competition, and not something pretty like rhythmic dancing (not a sport, see paragraph 1), or another feel good story, we don’t get to see it.
Baseball not a sport? NFL is better?
2007- NFL player: Dwight Freeney’s contract is for 6 years and $72 million, or an average of $12 million per year. He received over $30 million of that in 2007, and the other $42 million spread (unevenly) over the other 5 years.
2007- MLS player: David Beckham earns $28,000,000.
2007- MLB player: Alex Rodriguez signs 10yr contract w/ Yankees for $275,000,000. Thats $27mil per year.
Which would you rather have? David Beckham earned $1mil more than Rodriguez in 2007, and David’s sport is “worldwide”. Yeah. Now with that said, David Beckham just signed a contract that will pay him $250,000,000 over a 5yr period. Save yourself the research, I have done it for you. And at the age of 33, A-Rod’s lifetime earnings are at $170.4mil. This still conveys my point. To say that Baseball isn’t a sport is childish.
And, World Series is 2nd grade? What about World Cup? What’s the difference? At least Baseball forces competitors to challenge one another more than just one match. The team that can consistently perform the best wins. Anyways, Football (I don’t care what continent you live on, just pick one) sucks.
Baseball tests many facets of athleticism, ie., fielding, hitting, catching, running. What all is involved in Soccer?
Baseball/softball not in the Olympics? Pfft. Who cares.
@Nick: Just because someone gets paid exorbitant amounts doesn’t mean diddly. That just means a company has too damn much money to waste.
Baseball is particularly bad, and all it’s done is make the cost of a ticket and incidentals go up high enough that I can’t take my wife and two kids to a game (of any pro or even semi-pro team) without dropping $400 if we want to sit somewhere other than the nosebleeds and have to watch with binoculars. That being said, all team sports are like this, football (all three kinds!), hockey, and basketball as well.
Also, your comment about World Series not being second grade… Uh… Maybe you didn’t get out of second grade, but name the number of countries that play baseball. US (and its territories), Canada, and Japan… Anywhere else? Who else plays in this “World Series” other than US and Canadian teams? Hmmm. Can’t think of one. The World Cup, on the other hand… Teams from all nations compete, and while the final is a single game and not a series, the lead-up is based on points awarded by wins, ties and losses, not by some random playoff win/loss.
Lastly, your comment about baseball testing many facets… Sure. It does. 95% percent of the facets are reflex, not strength. By your definition, video games and their players should be professional as well. However, I guarantee you that if you threw a baseball player on a soccer field, he’d be out of breath within the first two minutes. Having played both soccer and baseball in high school, I know. Most of my baseball team mates thought I was crazy for playing soccer, probably because they were lazy. A run around the bases is a whopping 360 feet, not a whole lot more than the length of a soccer field. An average soccer player does about 5.5 miles of movement in an average game, while in particularly competitive games that number has gone up to around 8. That takes place in 90 minutes. How long does a baseball game last? And how much does a player REALLY do in that 90 minutes?
The simple fact that the entire world plays soccer, while only a country of fat lazy-asses like ourselves plays baseball should tell you something about the sport.
@Andy
The simple fact that the entire world plays soccer, while only a country of fat lazy-asses like ourselves plays baseball should tell you something about the sport.
Tells me what? That we are original? That we don’t need to play the same sport that everyone else plays? And how many countries play baseball? Remember the article is about the US not playing everyone else, not everyone else not playing at all. And there are players from all over the world in the MLB. It is an American sport that invites the world to try out and play on American teams, hence World Series. PS, ever heard of World Baseball Classic? 16 teams worldwide, not just US, Canada, and Japan.
And yes, exorbitant amounts of money being thrown around does signify stature. The more money they make relates proportionality to popularity and spectatorship. You don’t spend millions on something that doesn’t work (look at TV commercials).
Baseball champions are chosen by some random playoff wins/losses? I guess it shows that High School is as far as you got in the sport, and obviously don’t follow it anymore.
And yes, video gamers should be professionals. That doesn’t mean athletes. Anyone who competes in something and is better than everyone else at it is a professional and a champion, so the statement you made to rebuttal me there holds no weight.
Of course if you throw a baseball player on a soccer field they aren’t going to be great. They are professional BASEBALL players. Throw a soccer player at the plate and toss him a 95mph fastball and see what he does. Once again comparing apples to oranges.
I never said that soccer players are great athletes, I was merely defending Baseball’s validity. I’m sorry, but 1 guy running with ball while 9 watch and 1 sits at a goal doesn’t interest me.
Yea Nick!! Tell Andy to do what Lance Armstrong did when he broke up with Kate Hudson last week…
TAKE YOUR BALL AND GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s pretty simple really…America is pretty much the only country in the world that actually plays baseball…the Olympics is all about *international* sports…given that most of the countries involved in the Olympics don’t play, have no interest in playing, how could you even have it as an option?
A hundred or so people watch baseball????
here in houston, even on weeknight games end of season games when we are near last place, about 32,000 astros fans are in minute maid park, now think about everyone else watching on tv, and then multiply that times 30 (teams). America (as a whole) LOVES baseball. no questions asked.
@ nick
i don’t where you are trying to watch baseball, but on fridays here, you can get 4 tickets (mezzanine, not nose bleed, actual decent seats), 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas, and 2 hats for $75. its affordable, and the atmosphere is much more fun than soccer games, yes mls. sorry
wow where are you watching baseball because i am coming there. it is 35 dollars alone for a yankee hat that i can get from lids for 25