Sports Cards

Splish Splash

June 22, 2016 • Chicago, Illinois

Francisco Silva of Chile ended up all wet as he battled for the ball with Colombia’s Roger Martinez during their CopaAmérica semifinal match.The game was delayed more than two hours by bad weather. When it finally ended, Chile had a 2–0 victory and a spot in the final againstArgentina.

Photograph by

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

AMATEUR HOUR

Jake Arrieta, who pitched in the 2008 Games, is just one of many future aces to play for Team USA as a minor leaguer.

BURNING QUESTION

SHOULD BASEBALL BE IN THE OLYMPICS?

BY MARK BECHTEL

Photograph by

Clive Rose/Getty Images

WHEN THE SUMMEROLYMPIC Games open this month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, more than 10,000 athletes will compete in dozens of sports. One sport that is noticeably missing is baseball.

Baseball and softball were dropped in 2005. Softball was ousted because the United States had been too dominant. In the ’04 Games, the U.S. outscored its opponents 51–1. (Ironically, the U.S. lost the gold medal game in ’08, the last time it was part of the Olympic program.)

Baseball was a different case. Even

though the sport is America’s national pastime, the U.S. didn’t dominate at the Olympics. But Major League Baseball wasn’t about to suspend its season for two weeks while its best players took part in the tournament. That lack of star power was the primary reason baseball was eliminated.

There was a bit of an uproar, even though it’s not unprecedented for the event lineup to change. The Olympics have seen plenty of sports come and go. In the early years, there was a competition in which marksmen shot at deer-shaped moving targets. The tug of war was contested at six Games. (How cool would it be if it were brought back? But that’s another Burning Question.) And until the 1940s, the Olympics also featured art competitions. In 1912, Walter Winans of the U.S. won silver in sharpshooting as well as gold in sculpture.

The outrage worked. Starting in 2020, both softball and baseball are expected to again be included in the Games. (O r new spor s include s g and skateboa g )

Is that good thing n the case of softball, definitely. Plenty of sports ar dominated by one country; that’s no reason to stop playing it. In fact, the added exposure might make other ountries more interested in softball— and eventually better at it.

Baseball will face the same problems it did during its first run. Teams will be made up of amateurs and minor leaguers. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The U.S. roster in 2008 included Jake Arrieta (then a farmhand) and Stephen Strasburg (a college player), who are now two of the best pitchers

Other rts urfing rding.) t a ng? In of y. f re ed by in baseball. There was a time when no professionals competed in the Olympics. That’s changed, leading to the era of basketball’s Dream Teams and hockey in the Winter Games that features the biggest names in the world. (The NHL has instituted a break during Olympic years.)

The Olympics should be about inclusion — not only of new sports, but also of traditional favorites. And while, sure, it would be nice to see the Cy Young Award winners of today competing, there’s nothing wrong with watching the Cy Young winners of tomorrow. NO SOFTIES

After helping the U.S. win its third straight gold medal in 2004, Jennie Finch was on the team that finally lost, in ’08 to Japan.

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