The United States is engaged in a titanic effort to counter Japan’s and Cuba’s rising domination of baseball around the world in Olympic Baseball 2008.
“ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM” Is Growing In A Field Of Dreams, Just Like The “Boys of Summer” And Baseball Farming.
The game of baseball may come to an end with the XXIXth Olympiad of the Modern Era of the Olympic Baseball 2008 Games.
Baseball and softball were voted out of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London at the IOC meeting on July 11, becoming the first sports to be voted out of the Olympics since Polo was abolished in 1936.
From this point on until the IOC meeting in October 2009, baseball’s reinstatement in the Olympic Games will be the buzz of the town.
Boy, oh boy! Do the Major League Baseball Team Owners in the United States have their hands full with this one? Every prong of Major League Baseball’s pitchfork is jam-packed with objects.
They control Major League Baseball in the United States, they established the World Baseball Classic and will renew it beginning in 2009, they have a scheduling conflict between USA baseball and the Olympics, they risk losing control of the revenue stream, and they are being held hostage by statements made by the IOC President.
The baseball season during the ensuing 12 months will be highly exciting. What is the Golden Rule, George would undoubtedly inquire?
REVIEW
Baseball in the Olympics initially debuted in St. Louis in 1904, despite minimal documentation. A United States team competed against the host Sweden eight years later in Stockholm, winning 13-3. In Berlin in 1936, two American teams competed against one another. Two Finnish teams competed in a modified version of the sport known as Finnish baseball in the 1952 Helsinki competition. In Melbourne, Australia and Tokyo each hosted a single exhibition game versus the United States. Before an American exhibition game in Los Angeles in 2008, this game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which drew close to 114,000 fans, held the record for the most attended baseball game ever.
Olympic baseball, which the IOC classified as an exhibition sport or event, made a comeback after a 20-year absence, but this time under tournament-style rules (1984 Los Angeles). It was referred to as a demonstration sport in Seoul in 1988. In the first tournament’s championship game, Japan defeated the United States in 1984. But in 1988, the US triumphed over Japan.
At the 1992 Summer Olympics, baseball was added as a recognized sport, featuring the recognizable eight-team competition. The participants have to be amateurs. The round robin round of the competition was followed by the semifinals and finals, during which teams competed against one another. Since then, the competition’s format has not changed significantly other from the fact that players were no longer obliged to be amateurs beginning in 2000.
The Olympic baseball squad is typically made up of elite minor league prospects who have not yet made it to remain and play extensively in the major leagues during their playing careers because the Olympics are played during the Major League Baseball season.
Medalists in baseball from the Olympics:
Games Gold Silver Bronze in the year
1992 Barcelona Cuba Taiwan, Chinese Japan \s1996 Atlanta Cuba USA Japan
Sydney, USA, 2000 Cuba Korea, South
Athens, 2004 Cuba Australia Japan
Beijing in 2008 Korea, South Cuba USA
With the 2008 Olympic Games coming to an end, baseball competition has been suspended till further notice.
Due to their victory in the baseball competition at the 2004 Olympic Games, Cuba is now the defending champion. The “odds-on favorite” to win the 2008 World Baseball Classic, which is part of the XXIXth Olympiad of the Modern Era, is Japan.
(Special Note: South Korea stole Cuba’s gold.)
Nevertheless, since baseball became a medal sport in 1992, Cuba has won three of the four Olympic Baseball gold medals, only settling for silver in 2000 after being defeated by the United States.
The fact that baseball, once lauded as America’s pastime, has been demoted to the status of a challenger at the Olympic Baseball 2008 competitions rather than the team to beat is particularly important.
The baseball competitions are scheduled from Wednesday, August 13, through Saturday, August 23, according to the Olympic baseball 2008 Competition Schedule preview.
Time zone differences must be taken into account while scheduling coverage of the games. United States Central time is 13 hours earlier in Beijing.
The Olympic Baseball 2008 baseball competition rules have been amended to include a very unusual/strange and contentious rule.
Senichi Hoshino, manager of team Japan, is displeased with the revised baseball regulations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. According to the new regulations, each club will start the 11th inning with runners on first and second base. In order to avoid drawn-out games, this was done.
Schedule of games for the 2008 USA Olympic Baseball Team: Date and opposition are shown below.
Beijing, China, Korea Wukesong Baseball Stadium, August 13 6:00 a.m. US lost 8-7.
Wukesong Baseball Stadium in Beijing, China, on August 13. 10:30 p.m. USA Won 7-0
14 August – Cuba Baseball Field Wukesong in Beijing, China 11:30 p.m. US lost 5-4. The game made use of the new Olympic game rule, which allows two runners to be placed on base to assist in scoring and shorten drawn-out games. When Jayson Nix, an American player from Dallas, Texas, fouled the ball off and it struck him in the face near the eye, he suffered a significant injury.
Beijing, China’s Wukesong Baseball Stadium on August 15th, Canada 10:30 p.m. USA Won 5-4 on August 18 in Beijing, China’s Wukesong Baseball Stadium. 7 a.m. USA triumphed 9-1. With hit batters and collisions at home plate, the game became a little rough. In an effort to calm the rowdy and unpleasant match, the umpire brought managers to the plate for a chat.
Beijing, China, Chinese Taipei Wukesong Baseball Stadium, August 19 7:00 a.m. USA Wukesong Baseball Stadium Beijing, China, August 20, 4-2 victory USA Olympic Semifinals at Wukesong Baseball Stadium, Beijing, China, won 4-2 on August 22. USA Away In Cuba Wukesong Baseball Stadium, Aug. 23, Olympic Medal Round, 10-2 Beijing, China The USA defeated Japan 8-4, took third place in the 2008 Olympic Games, and earned the bronze medal. 3-2 victory over Cuba gave South Korea the gold medal in baseball at the XXIXth modern Olympics. Baseball is no longer a part of the Olympic Games as of the 2008 Olympic Baseball Games. The general belief among the public, however, is that baseball competition will be brought back at some point for re-inclusion in the Olympic Games. South Korea defeated Cuba 3-2 to win the gold, unseating them as the previous gold medal-winning team. Currently, South Korea has won the Olympic gold medal for 2008.
The 2008 USA Baseball Olympic Team roster is as follows:
Pitchers: Casey Weathers, Brett Anderson, Geno Espineli, Jake Arrieta, Trevor Cahill, Kevin Jepsen, Brandon Knight, Mike Koplove, Blaine Neal, Clayton Richard, Jeff Stevens, and Jake Arrieta
Brian Barden, Matthew Brown, Jason Donald, Mike Hessman, and Terry Tiffee are infielders.
Dexter Fowler, John Gall, Matt LaPorta, and Colby Rasmus are outfielders.
Catchers: Taylor Teagarden and Lou Marson
2008 Olympic Baseball 2008 Team Coaches:
Place of Birth Name Pos
Manager Johnson, Davey Orlando, FL
Reggie Smith, Batting Coach Shreveport, Louisiana
Pitching coach Lachemann, Marcel Los Angeles, CA
Third base coach Rick Eckstein from Sanford, Florida de Armas from New York, NY
Dick Cooke, Coach, Davidson, NC
