Olympic Baseball Blog

olympicbaseball March 7th, 2008

Although United Kingdom is capable to attend the IBAF Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament, but they won’t go to Taiwan due to the fund short issue and will not have a change to go to Wukesong Stadium of Beijing during Olympics.

British Baseball has called UK Sport short-sighted after being forced to pull out of a final Olympic qualifying tournament. Team GB have been unable to raise the £40,000 needed to fund the trip to the competition in Taiwan and UK Sport turned down a late request to help out.

Spokesman Bob Fromer told BBC Sport: “UK Sport are being short-sighted - I am not at all happy with them.” UK Sport’s Matt Crawcour conceded: “We sometimes have tough calls to make.”

The British baseball team was funded by UK Sport until 2005, the same year the sport was dropped by the International Olympic Committee for the 2012 Games and beyond. The British Olympic Association stepped in and acquired an Olympic solidarity grant of $100,000 (£50,000) from the IOC which funded the team through 2006 and 2007.

“That money was used to play in the 2007 European Championships, where we finished second,” said Fromer. “And that result meant we qualified for the final Olympic qualifying tournament, along with seven other teams, which starts this week, but it also used up the rest of our funds. The BOA were sympathetic and tried to arrange another solidarity grant, but the IOC said no.”

“And UK Sport turned us down in December, for which they received criticism from (Shadow Sports Minister) Hugh Robertson, who raised a question in parliament about the £30,000 UK Sport spent sending delegates to a conference on sporting legacy in Barbados.”

“In January, we told the International Baseball Federation that we didn’t have the money to be able to attend the event, and they spent a few weeks trying to help, but ultimately they couldn’t and we had no option but to pull out.”

“The tournament takes place during spring training for the American baseball teams and we have a few players trying to make it onto their teams, so they would have found it difficult to be released to play in Taiwan,” Fromer said that it would have been a tough ask for Britain to qualify for the Games. “But then, the same goes for teams like Spain and Germany.”

Britain’s place in the tournament has been taken by Germany, who join Mexico, Canada, Spain, Korea, Taiwan, Australia and South Africa in the round-robin event to decide who goes to Beijing.

“It’s very sad,” added Fromer. “I don’t agree with UK Sport’s policy. They are giving more and more money to fewer sports and that is being too narrow, but unless baseball gets back into the Olympic picture the future looks bleak.”

Crawcour defended UK Sport’s stance, saying: “Baseball falling out of the 2012 Olympics in London colored our thinking. If a sport is on the program for 2012 there would be incentive for us to invest, but baseball isn’t - it’s effectively a one-off event for 2008. “It’s all about value for money - we’d love to fund every athlete and sport but we don’t have a bottomless pit.”

There is some good news for British baseball - the second-placed finish at the European Championships secured the team a spot at the 2009 World Championships. The International Baseball Federation will foot the bill for most of the costs incurred going to the tournament.

But Fromer added: “Beyond the event, we will have no external funding, which means we will have to field a team entirely made up of home-based players. That means we will not be as strong internationally.”

Meanwhile, the GB team will play a friendly match against a team of international cricketers at Somerset’s ground in Taunton. Somerset and England batsman Marcus Trescothick came up with the idea for the game, which will form part of his benefit year.

The seven-inning contest will take place on Saturday, 4 October 2008, and feature Kevin Pietersen, Simon Jones, Ashley Giles, Ian Botham, Alec Stewart and Mike Atherton on the cricketers’ side. On the following day, the British Baseball Federation will be running a day-long youth clinic with instruction from GB players and coaches.

Dan King of Daily Mail also mention that “Beijing hopefuls are struck out.”,

Even UK Sport expressed their regret at not being able to support the baseball team, but claimed that because it will no longer be an Olympic sport after Beijing and the team were unlikely to win a medal in China, resources would be better spent elsewhere.

A spokesman added that the conference cash came from another budget. It is, of course, also very pleasant in Barbados at this time of year.

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olympicbaseball March 6th, 2008

After exhibition games with Australia, Canada’s national baseball team head to Taiwan, and hope to get a chance to regain a berth in the Summer Olympics.

Four years ago, Canada fell frustratingly short of a medal in the Athens Games, so the flight out from Down Under represented a new beginning.

“It looks good for us,” said outfielder Jimmy Van Ostrand of Richmond, B.C., as the Canadians headed to the final Olympic qualifying tournament for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing. “It’s a tough tournament and there is going to be a lot of tough competition there but we definitely have a good team to give ourselves a chance. It’s going to be lots of fun.”

Van Ostrand and the rest of the Canadian roster felt upbeat and confident after going 3-1-1 in a tune-up series against the Australians that began Feb. 27. They were able shake off a winter in which most of the players were away from baseball.

Canada must now claim one of three open Olympic spots. The week-long tournament, starting tomorrow, will see Canada in a stiff competition to come out ahead of baseball-strong countries Australia, Germany, South Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, and the host Taiwan.

The Canadians will field a very young team featuring up-and-coming prospects like Mike Saunders of Victoria, VanOstrand of Richmond, B.C., Matt Rogelstad of New Westminster, B.C., and Nick Weglarz of Stevensville, Ont.

“We have all the tools here to get it done. We just need to stick to our game and we’ll get the results that we want,” said Canadian manager Terry Puhl.

Canada’s experience will likely be a factor this week, with Windsor’s Stubby Clapp, Adam Stern of Port Stanley, Ont., Calgary’s Ryan Radmanovich, Jeremy Ware of Guelph, Ont.and Mike Kusiewicz of Ottawa all returning from the 2004 team that dropped an 8-5 decision in the late innings to Cuba in a game that would have sent them to the gold medal match.

The Canadians - behind starter Shawn Hill, pitching with a torn ligament in his right elbow - carried a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning before the Cubans rallied for six runs. Canada rallied for two runs in the ninth, but with two out and two runners on base, Kevin Nicholson’s apparent home run was snagged at the wall by leaping Cuban left fielder Frederich Cepeda and preserve Cuba’s 8-5 win.

For veteran like Clapp, the thought of that agonizing finish still makes him feel “sick to my stomach … it brings tears to my eyes every time I see it on the replay.” “When we didn’t medal in 2004 I felt cheated, because we had a team to do it, circumstances just didn’t allow it,” Clapp told the Canadian Press. “At that time after being so heartbroken, it was really hard to go back to baseball again.”

The Canadian baseball folk hero retired from professional play last season, and only the national team’s pursuit of a berth at the Olympics this summer keeps him on the field now. He’s put his job as a hitting coach in the Houston Astros organization on hold in the hope that the last of his trademark pre-game back flips comes in Beijing, while taking the field for the gold-medal game.

If they didn’t make it, one of the more colorful players to ever suit up for the national team will likely have played his final game wearing the Maple Leaf.

“Unfortunately, that’s the truth,” Clapp said in a recent interview. “I’ve thought about it and what it does is motivate me more to succeed in this tournament because I want to play in August. I’d rather that be my last hurrah than a qualifying tournament. It’s a special deal and we have to take advantage of it.”

“(Winning a medal) is probably about as important as anything’s been to me, especially for this program.”

The kids will be counted on to do the heavy lifting, with veterans like Clapp guiding them along.

“The toughest part is them being able to trust themselves and that’s something that will be relayed from the veteran guys,” said Clapp. “They’re at a point in their careers where they’ve got to be able to do that and if they can’t it’s going to be tough to succeed. The pressure only gets worse. It never stops, you just have to learn to deal with it.”

Clapp is the ideal player to show them the way.

He first came to national prominence in 1999, when his bloop fly ball in the 11th inning brought home the winning run in a walkoff 7-6 victory over the United States at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg. In subsequent years he played a key role in most major Canadian baseball highlights, including qualifying for the 2004 Olympics and the stunning 8-6 win over the U.S. at the World Baseball Classic in 2006.

One of his most memorable moments came after Canada clinched its berth for the Athens Games, when the team gathered on the bus and sang O Canada together over and over.

“That sends goosebumps down my skin just thinking about that moment. It was just unbelievable, the camaraderie between the guys and the coaches,” Clapp recalled. “The Pan Am Games sticks out, the game against the U.S. was huge. The game against the U.S. at the World Baseball Classic, there were some things in that game that were just phenomenal. There have been so many games that have meant so much.”

There’s been plenty of heartbreak, too.

Aside from the loss to Cuba in 2004, there was missing out on the 2000 Olympics after a 3-2 semifinal loss to Cuba at the ‘99 Pan Ams and elimination from the World Baseball Classic on run differential despite tying the U.S. and Mexico with 2-1 first-round records. “International baseball is different, we talk about cutthroat baseball and we’ll relay that to the young guys,” said Clapp. “Let them know every pitch counts, every run counts.”

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olympicbaseball February 17th, 2008

Federación Mexicana de Béisbol and Liga Mexicana de Béisbol presented the final list of National Team of Final Olympic Qualifier, which is held from 7 to 14 March in the Taichung, Taiwan.

Due to Colorado Rockies refuse to let Vinny Castilla to be manage the Mexico team unless it qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, their manager will be Jose Tolentino. The team will assemble together on February 17 in Cancún, Quintana Roo, where they will hold a series with teams of southeastern Mexican League Baseball, then move to Tucson, Arizona to play exhibition games with Colorado Rockies, then fly to Taiwan for Final Olympic Qualifier.

Currently roster is 27, will be cut down to 24 before game started. Among the 27 players, none of them play Baseball World Cup last year, and seven of them is the roster in World Baseball Classic 2006.

Final Olympic Qualifier Roster:
CATCHERS
Gerónimo Gil, Miguel Ojeda
INFIELDERS
Jesús Cota, Roberto Saucedo, Carlos A. Gastélum, Carlos Valencia, José Luis Sandoval, Heber Gomez, Agustín Murillo
OUTFIELDERS
Luís Alfonso García, Karim García (train in Japan and will report to the team in Taiwan), Iván Terrazas, Cristian Presichi, Luís Mauricio Suárez
PITCHERS
Francisco Campos, Pablo Ortega, Oscar Rivera, Walter Silva, Andrés Meza, Oscar Bustillos, Rafael Díaz, José Silva, David Cortes, Roberto Ramírez, Edgar Huerta, Heriberto Ruelas, Víctor Álvarez
Manager
José Tolentino
Coaches
Adulfo Camacho, Marco Antonio Guzmán, Teodoro Higuera, Armando Reynoso
Trainer
Jorge Fajardo
Bat-boy
Alberto Iñiguez

Below is the Final Olympic Qualifier schedule with Mexico:

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olympicbaseball February 14th, 2008

To prepare the Final Olympic Qualifying tournament in Taiwan next month, the Australian Baseball Team will host four games to the Canadian National team.

Based on the news released from Australian Baseball Federation, the series will be held in Brisbane and the Gold Coast from February 28 - March 2, will be the Australian Team’s final stage of selection trials and has been targeted to help the Aussies peak ahead of their must win tournament in Taiwan.

Australian Head Coach, Jon Deeble, is excited about playing the Canadians on home soil – especially as he puts some of the National squad’s youngest talent through the rigors of the two-week selection camp.

“For the first time in a number of years there are several spots in the team that are wide open (for selection) – I’m really looking forward to letting these guys go at it,” Deeble said.

“In terms of our preparation, we have had the benefit of the recent Claxton Shield season to identify some emerging talent and will now we get the chance to see how they perform against Canada – one of the World’s top sides,

“Truth be told, nobody is guaranteed a ticket to the qualifiers, so I am going to take whoever’s “hot” at the time,” he said.

The Games against Canada will mark the first time the National Team has hosted the North American powerhouses on home soil in well over a decade, and promises to deliver a thrilling showcase between two evenly matched teams.

When the two sides locked horns at the Baseball World Cup last November, Australia came away with a nail-biting 7-6 victory that eliminated Canada from the finals – a result that the Canadians will be eager to avenge next month as they battle the Aussies for one of the final three Olympic berths in the eight-nation tournament in Taiwan.

Canada, who finished 4th in Athens, remains one of the biggest threats for the Aussies’ and will join Korea, Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Germany, Spain and South Africa as they vie for their own piece of Olympic history.

Although Australia will enter the March Qualifier as reigning Silver Medallists, they clearly face an uphill battle on their road to Beijing, placing even greater emphasis on their preparation in these games against the touring internationals.

The four-game series will follow closely on the heels of a two-game exhibition schedule in Sydney that sees the Australian squad match up against the NSW Patriots at Blacktown Olympic Park on February 22 & 23.

In the mean time, Korea national team will be in Taiwan to play three exhibition games with Chinese Professional Baseball League Team. And you can find the final Olmpic Qualifier here.

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL TEAM SCHEDULE

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olympicbaseball February 12th, 2008

For the 2008 Olympic Games, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) may shut down at least three weeks for Olympic Baseball Tournament, according to Korea Times.

Although 2008 Beijing Olympic baseball tournament is scheduled for 12 days, considering the time the players need for preparation and recovery, officials believe that teams would need at least a three-week’s break. Besides, to ease the complications in schedule, the KBO has opening day set for March 29, about a week earlier than normal.

However, before the three-week shutdown really happen, it depends on Korea winning a ticket to Beijing in the Olympic qualifiers next month in Taiwan. The 2008 Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament include eight-nation stakes the final three spots in the Olympic tournament, competitors include Mexico, Canada, Taiwan and Australia which is tough for Korea, as Germany, Spain and South Africa is relative easy opponents.

“It would be hard to expect a meaningful level of public interest during the Olympics anyway,” said Jeong Keum-jo, KBO’s chief manager of baseball operations.

“The number of players on the national baseball squad differs from team to team. It would not be fair to let the regular season commence during the Olympics when some teams would be greatly compromised by sending their players to Beijing,” he said.

By the way, KBO are also discussing lifting the current 12-inning limit on league games from this season, which would assure draws no longer appear next to the win-loss column.

“Owners are agreeing at large on draws and allowing teams to play out to the end for a win,” he said.

“The idea of limiting innings was to prevent the games from getting too long, but throughout the 26-year history of the league, only 10 games went beyond 15 innings,” he said.

“Lifting the innings limit will surely encourage coaches and players to play with an increased level of intensity in the extra innings, which would benefit the fans paying for the tickets.”

Since its launching in 1982, the Korean professional league had imposed 12-inning or 15-inning limits on games to prevent them from dragging too long. The Japanese baseball league currently has a 12-inning limit, while Major League Baseball (MLB) of the United States doesn’t have an inning limit.

The final decision need for approval in a KBO board meeting to be summoned next Monday.

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olympicbaseball February 8th, 2008

According to Winnipeg Sun: Umps get the call, two Canadian Umpires are selected on the Olympic Baseball in Beijing.

Baseball Manitoba announced that Ron Shewchuk, a Minnedosa native, along with Winnipeg’s Brian Hodgson, have been selected to work the baseball tournament at the Summer Games in Beijing this August. The duo will be the only Canadians on the international, 16-member crew.

Manitoba has sent an umpire to the Olympics only once before. Winnipeg native Glen Johnson, now a CFL referee living in Toronto, did the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

“The fact that there’s two from Manitoba going is unbelievable from that standpoint,” Hodgson said.

“It’s never been done before, and it looks very well for Manitoba baseball.”

Shewchuk, 48, and Hodgson, 53, have plenty of international experience, including stints at Olympic qualifiers, junior and senior world tournaments, and the Pan Am Games, but this assignment takes the cake.

“AS HIGH AS IT GETS”

“Absolutely,” Hodgson said. “You ask any athlete in any sport. The Olympics is as high as it gets. You’re only going to do it once, and this is wonderful.”

“This is it,” added Shewchuk. “Quite honestly, after this there’s really nowhere to go.”

Shewchuk and Hodgson may, in fact, be the only Canucks taking part in the Olympic baseball tournament. Canada has yet to earn a berth in the event, but their next chance is an Olympic qualifier next month in Taiwan.

This will be Canada’s last chance for a while, as baseball has been removed from the 2012 Games. It is expected to return in 2016.

Should Canada fail to qualify, Shewchuk and Hodgson will avoid much of the political wheeling and dealing that takes place behind the scenes. They wouldn’t be completely free of it, however.

Shewchuk, for example, was the target of accusations at an Olympic qualifier in 2006, when he was at second base for the gold-medal game between the U.S. and the host Cubans.

“The Cubans were accusing me of giving signs to the American hitters. It’s weird,” Shewchuk said. “The catcher goes, ‘Hey, he’s giving signals!’ I’m standing there going, ‘What the hell?’ It’s funny. They’re passionate.”

Winnipeg’s Alex Gardiner, who sits on the Canadian Olympic Committee, warned Shewchuk and Hodgson to expect almost every emotion from the Chinese spectators, from apathy to ridicule to anger.

“It’ll be OK,” Hodgson said. “Whether you’re doing it in China or you’re doing it next door, what you get from the fans is going to be about the same.

“Politically it’s a little different, and culturally it’s going to be hugely different, but we’ve done international baseball.”

I guess they are both willing to see Canada to be the final eight teams of Olympic Baseball 2008 no matter those politics or fans interference, and of course, they will not be in the game when Canada plays in case anyone has any reason to say anything.

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olympicbaseball February 1st, 2008

IBAF has released the 2008 Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament Schedule, eight teams participated and top three teams qualify for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The Game is played at Taichung, Taiwan on March 7-14, 2008.

Home Away Time
March 7
South Africa vs. Korea 12:30
Mexico vs. Canada 12:30
Chinese Taipei vs. Spain 19:00
Germany vs. Australia 18:30
March 8
Canada vs. South Africa 12:30
Mexico vs. Chinese Taipei 12:30
Korea vs. Australia 18:30
Spain vs. Germany 18:30
March 9
Germany vs. Chinese Taipei 12:30
Australia vs. Canada 12:30
South Africa vs. Spain 18:30
Korea vs. Mexico 18:30
March 10
Germany vs. South Africa 12:30
Spain vs. Korea 12:30
Chinese Taipei vs. Canada 18:30
Australia vs. Mexico 18:30
March 12
Korea vs. Germany 12:30
Canada vs. Spain 12:30
Mexico vs. South Africa 18:30
Chinese Taipei vs. Australia 18:30
March 13
Australia vs. Spain 12:30
Germany vs. Mexico 12:30
Canada vs. Korea 18:30
South Africa vs. Chinese Taipei 18:30
March 14
Spain vs. Mexico 12:30
South Africa vs. Australia 12:30
Chinese Taipei vs. Korea 18:30
Canada vs. Germany 18:30

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olympicbaseball January 13th, 2008

Due to the Game timing, Canada Baseball Final Qualification team faces lots of problem to piece together a team, and no one want to face the dilemma of choose team or country, according to Canadain Press.

And, Adam Stern, Stubby Clapp, Steve Green, Chris Begg, T.J. Burton, Jonathan Lockwood, Mike Saunders, Matt Rogelstad, Nick Weglarz Chris Robinson and Ryan Radmanovich got the OK from team to play but infielder Pete Orr, Danny Klassen did not.

TORONTO — Justin Morneau, Jeff Francis and Russell Martin have each faced the dilemma of choosing between team and country and offer lots of sympathy to their fellow Canadians who will soon be forced to make that same decision.

Baseball Canada is struggling to piece together a team for the final Olympic qualifier this March because the tournament’s timing coincides with big-league spring training. Anyone not on a major-league roster is eligible to play, meaning lots of players trying to impress their teams can’t afford to leave camp to wear the Maple Leaf.

Morneau and Francis faced a similar situation before the 2004 Olympics and ultimately missed out on the Athens Games when their teams called them to up the majors. Martin skipped the 2006 World Baseball Classic because he wanted to impress a new coaching staff with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

All three, now established big-league stars, say it’s almost a no-win situation to be in.

“It’s like either way you choose, nothing good can come of it almost,” Francis, the Colorado Rockies ace left-hander from North Delta, B.C., said Saturday at Baseball Canada’s annual awards banquet. “You want to be in both places at the same time. The reason you play baseball is to try and get to the big-leagues and it’s a tough choice.

“You’ve got to think about everything, making a living, your dream of playing for your country and your dream of playing in the big-leagues. I went through it and I don’t envy someone who has to go through it.”

Martin, the all-star catcher from Chelsea, Que., agreed.

“If you go to represent your country you’re going to be happy but if you don’t end up making it (to the big-leagues) you don’t want to say, `Oh, it’s because they didn’t get a good look at me and stuff,”‘ he said. “It’s a dilemma, it’s a tough decision and if you go on one side, you’re going to get yelled at and if you go on the other, you’re going to get yelled at by people.”

Morneau, the Minnesota Twins first baseman and 2006 AL MVP from New Westminster, B.C., called it a very tough situation to be in.

“If you’re not there (at spring training) for them to see you, how are you going to make the team?” said Morneau. “For each person, it’s different. You’ve got to do what’s best for you but at the same