Baseball is stepping to the
plate in an attempt to return to the Olympics.
The earliest it can win reinstatement is 2009, when the International Olympic
Committee considers the sports program for the 2016 Games.
The International Baseball Federation said Friday that it has set up a
commission "to evaluate and resolve the problems connected with baseball's
return to the Olympic program." The move came after a meeting in Rome of
international baseball officials from 22 countries.
Raffaele Pagnozzi, secretary of the Italian and European Olympic Committees,
said he expected baseball to be readmitted "very soon."
Baseball and softball were dropped from the Olympics after the 2008 Beijing
Games in an IOC vote last year. Baseball has been an Olympic sport since 1992,
but will not be part of the 2012 London Games.
