Obama a boost for baseball?
DANA POINT, Calif. — With Barack Obama in the White House, baseball officials think their sport could have a better chance of getting back into the Olympics.
"If the perception internationally of the United States improves by virtue of his election, then I think the U.S. stature in international sport of every type will be enhanced," San Diego Padres chief executive officer Sandy Alderson said Wednesday at the general managers’ meetings. "I don’t think the United States has the international stature in sport that it once had."
Baseball was added as a demonstration sport in 1984 and 1988, then was a medal sport starting in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in July 2005 to drop baseball and softball following the 2008 Beijing Games. When a vote for reinstatement took place the following February, baseball lost 46-42 and softball failed 47-43.
At the time, International Softball Federation president Don Porter said: "I think anti-Americanism was a factor." Softball was added for the 1996 Atlanta Games.
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"I think clearly how the world looks at America is going to be different with Barack Obama in the White House," Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. "And that will be initial. And then how he leads and how he governs will determine how they look at us over a sustained period."
The IOC will consider the program for the 2016 Games when it meets next October. Leaders of Chicago’s bid to host that Olympics think Obama’s election provides a boost.
