THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608030523
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SERIES: Olympics 1996: From Atlanta
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: 72 lines
If Olympic baseball doesn't go pro, it could perish.
The implied threat has come down from Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, who has said the Olympics need to feature the world's best players.
Samaranch gave no timetable, but these are the last Games expected to have only amateur baseball players. Nor did Samaranch propose a way for countries, particularly the United States, to put the likes of Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux and Ken Griffey Jr. in the Olympics without standing the major leagues on their head for three weeks or more.
Samaranch simply threw the grenade. It falls to others to find ways to make it possible, and then workable.
What comes first is the International Baseball Association will meet Sept. 21 in Switzerland and vote to allow professionals to play in the 2000 Olympics, scheduled for Sept. 16 to Oct. 1, in Sydney, Australia.
That's the easy part. Devising a plan to gather global teams of pros will be a monumental chore of headache, argument and compromise that threatens to vex Americans most.
You can stop the hockey season for the Winter Olympics. Stopping the major league season, though, for anything other than a strike or lockout for a month is a virtual impossibility.
So one early proposal is to take no more than one player per team. Considering the calendar of the next Games, another idea is to just use players from teams that are out of the September pennant races.
Four years out, maybe the most likely solution is to enlist only minor leaguers not handed September promotions. Pick 'em, slap 'em together and send 'em Down Under to slice off another piece of the ``Olympic ideal.''
That's a cruel cut U.S. coach Skip Bertman can't stand.
``What that says is that the Olympics are all about money,'' Bertman said, clearly stating the obvious. ``With comparatively slow-playing games that are not television-friendly and a lack of household names on team rosters, the future of Olympic baseball as it stands is bleak.''
The IOC envisions a Maddux facing Puerto Rico's Juan Gonzalez and the Dominican Republic's Sammy Sosa facing Japan's Hideo Nomo. At least for Sydney, the Triple-A equivalent might have to do.
``We've spent a lot of time talking about it,'' said acting baseball commissioner and Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig. ``But let's say your team and my team are out of it and we supply a player, but we're playing a team that's not out of it. That skewers the pennant race. That's what a lot of people worry about''
For once, Players' Union head Don Fehr votes for minor leaguers.
``We could essentially say that for the year 2000, anybody whom a club doesn't bring up on Sept. 1 would be eligible to play,'' Fehr said.
Surprisingly, even coaches of nations that don't have pro leagues endorse pros in the Olympics. Less talent-rich countries, Italy for instance, could tap their finest resources instead of being forced into a shallow amateur pool.
Yes, in theory, the U.S.could do the same thing and produce a Dream Team-like steamroller. But, probably mindful of the logistical nightmares America faces to make it happen, the world is willing to take its chances.
``That would be fine with me,'' Cuba coach Jorge Fuentes said, ``because then Cuba would also bring its professional players.''
Nicaragua coach Darin Van Tassell said, ``I think it'll create parity across the board. It'll strengthen all of the teams, and it may work against the United States.''
It definitely will work against Bertman, the coach at Louisiana State, and others who cling to quaint notions of amateurism and Olympic sacrifice. For those romantics, Australian coach Robert Derksen, host of the 2000 Games, has three words - Get over it.
``It will be all professionals in 2000,'' Derksen said. ``I like amateurs in the Olympics. But the Olympics just aren't going that way anymore.''
KEYWORDS: OLYMPICS 1996 by CNB