Baseball Pitches Joint Bid to Softball

The leader of the international baseball federation pitched a joint bid for Olympic reinstatement to the leader of the international softball federation on Thursday night, but left the meeting with no decision.

IBAF chief Harvey Schiller told Around the Rings that he and ISF chief Don Porter had "a good talk" in Orlando, which lasted nearly two hours.

"I gave Don all of my supportive elements," Schiller said. "The various federations are asking for it, our executive committee (of the IBAF) has asked me to push it forward, and I gave him all my arguments why I thought it would be in our mutual best interests.

"He didn't commit to anything. He needs to work at it. Nothing is agreed at this point."

He said he looked forward to future talks, but nothing has been scheduled.

Schiller said he and Porter did not discuss how a joint bid or federation would be structured or who would be in charge.

Speaking to Around the Rings prior to the meeting with Schiller, Porter acknowledged that the two sports can seem inseparable.

"In the eyes of some, even IOC members from time to time have told me and told others, sometimes they see women's softball as women's baseball," Porter said. "There's certainly a lot of similarities, but we're still different sports, different international federations. We want to go in our own direction, what's good for our sport and the people who play our sport."

Baseball and softball sent separate questionnaires to the IOC earlier this month, and Schiller said he did not know if a joint bid even would be allowed.

Federations in Europe, Japan and Africa have sent letters to Schiller endorsing a joint bid.

Baseball and softball were voted off the Olympic program in 2005 and made their last appearance at the Beijing Olympics. They are two of the seven sports vying to be part of the 2016 Summer Games. Because a maximum of two sports will get the green light when the IOC votes in October, Schiller has stressed that a joint bid would help both sports get reinstated, as well as allow a third sport to be approved.

Martin Miller, president of the Confederation of European Baseball, noted that about 30 of the 38 European countries are joint federations. He advocated an "International bat and ball federation."

Schiller was in Orlando to introduce President Bill Clinton at an executive seminar for Global Options Group, the New York-based company where Schiller is chairman and CEO.

"Bill is very supportive of baseball," Schiller said. "He said he'd do anything, talk to anybody about it. He's supportive because it's such an inexpensive game to play and is played so well in so many poor areas in the world."

Written by Karen Rosen.