ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607250015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
BASEBALL MAY FOLLOW other sports and send its professionals to the Olympics for the 2004 Summer Games.
Would major-league baseball be willing to take more than an All-Star break?
That's what the Olympics are asking.
Baseball remains one of the few Olympic sports in which professionals do not compete. It seems that although the U.S. national pastime is playing only its second Summer Games as a medal sport, the days of amateurs could end with the Aug.2 gold-medal game at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
Would the majors be willing to take a two-week midsummer break to allow Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, Roberto Alomar, Omar Vizquel and Hideo Nomo to play for competing nations?
Good question.
Whether the club owners like it or not, pros are expected in Olympic baseball at the 2000 Games in Sydney. The Major League Players Association likes what it sees in basketball's Dream Team.
The International Olympic Committee will vote Sept.21 in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the baseball issue. Two-thirds approval is needed for the pros to play.
It's expected to happen, whether the majors like it or not, although it's doubtful the IOC would expect big-leaguers to play in Sydney for games scheduled Sept.15-Oct.1, in the stretch run for pennants.
By 2004, the Olympics might expect Giants from both Tokyo and San Francisco, however.
The International Baseball Association, which sanctions Olympic play, expects the measure to pass. IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch is adamant about having the world's best in every Olympic sport competing, and he has said baseball won't be an exception.
Dick Case, the soon-to-retire executive director of USA Baseball, said Samaranch is serious about suggesting baseball be dropped from the Olympics if the world's best don't participate.
``He's very strong on this,'' Case said. ``We can't be compromising when dealing internationally. You learn firsthand you're a gringo. They're looking at you as an ugly American rather than a nice guy.''
Would each major-league team be willing to allow one player to play in the Olympics every four years? Would the Cubs want Sosa leaving the Friendly Confines for two weeks with the Dominican Republic team?
Holy cow!
Players association chief Don Fehr said the players want to play, because they've seen the Dream Teamers do so, and they know the NHL is going to interrupt its season for Winter Games participation.
Case, attending the Atlanta Games, said Olympic participation by the game's stars would help boost the sport internationally.
Look at the NBA's foreign marketing and influence since the Dream Team started dribbling through the five rings.
The difficult part, Case concedes, will be getting the majors and international baseball to work together. The majors have the players. The international federation has the vehicle.
The players' union has men from 14 nations as members, including Cuba. If the vote doesn't pass, Cuba will remain the international power. There are said to be more than a few foreign baseball federation chiefs who feel the United States, with pro participation, would only gain more power in the sport.
Case doesn't want the measure to pass because he believes amateurs should play in the Olympics, but ``I know it will.'' He said some accommodation between the majors and international baseball must be found, ``because I don't want us to be locked out of the Olympic Games.''
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB