Why is baseball in the Olympics important?
In 1986 baseball was voted into the Olympic Games by the IOC. In that year there were sixty countries listed as having ‘National Baseball Federations’ with memberships in the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) – (www.ibaf.org). The IBAF was founded in 1938 and is a non-governmental organization recognised by the IOC as administering men’s and women’s baseball at the world level. An individual country’s ‘National Baseball Federation’ is that nation’s official governing body for the sport, and is responsible for growing, advancing, and developing that country’s baseball. Following this positive IOC vote in 1986 for baseball in the Olympic Games, the sport of baseball started immediately to grow and prosper in many, many countries. This year the IBAF lists more than one hundred twenty-five countries as having ‘National Baseball Federations’. The Olympic Movement is directly responsible for this explosion and increased popularity of baseball across the globe. Countries all over the w
