Baseball Strikes Out At Olympics

Olympic Officials Decide To Eliminate It, Softball From 2012 Games

(AP) 
The absence of major league stars is a big issue for the IOC, which wants the world's top athletes from all sports in the games.

"The lack of the MLB players — I think people have looked and said, `Well, all right, if there's to be a change, that seems to be the logic of it,"' British IOC member Craig Reedie said.

Baseball's steroid problem in the United States was cited as another factor. While Major League Baseball has toughened its drug-testing programs, they still fall far short of Olympic standards.

"Problems with doping in U.S. baseball probably cost the sport dearly," Australian IOC member John Coates said.

Several IOC members also cited high stadium costs associated with both sports, saying baseball and softball venues have little post-games use in some host cities.

"I think they've made a big, big mistake," said Tommy Lasorda, the former Dodgers manager who guided the U.S. team to the gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Games. "Baseball is played by all countries now, and softball, too. I think that's really going to hurt the Olympics. I don't want to knock the other sports, but I think this is a big mistake. I am very disappointed."

Don Porter, the American president of the international softball federation, was devastated by the vote.

"We thought that we had a lot of support," he said. "The members told us we were getting support, but obviously we weren't."