On the Record - No Cold Feet Before Baseball, Softball Marriage

(ATR) Co-Presidents Riccardo Fraccari and Don Porter tell Around the Rings the World Baseball Softball Confederation is both optimistic and realistic with its bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Over the weekend in Tokyo, ATR's Matthew Grayson spoke with the newlyweds minutes after the marriage of the International Baseball Federation and International Softball Federation finally became official.

Read on for their reaction.

Around the Rings: The merged World Baseball Softball Confederation is finally a reality. How good does that feel after the years of work leading up today?

Riccardo Fraccari: From my side, I’m excited. I’m really excited because for me, too, especially for me, I come from a country where baseball and softball work together. One can help the other. I’m convinced that apart from the Olympics, we’ll help each other to grow under the WBSC.

ATR: Don, how confident are you this is right move for softball’s future, identity-wise and growth-wise?

Don Porter: Well, we wouldn’t have signed that constitution up there today if we hadn’t felt that this was the thing we do.

We had other choices, but we felt that the choice of combining with our friends in baseball was the way for us to go because it’s not only what we thought would strengthen our bid to the IOC, it’s what we also can do collectively as far as development of our two games, and we’re interested in that. We want to see the growth of our game in a lot of countries where it’s not being played, and we think combining is going to allow us to work towards that. And also, there’s no doubt about it. With baseball and softball together, it certainly strengthens what we’re going to be able to do and what we’re going to bring to the IOC. We think there’s a lot of added value to the things we’re going to propose to the IOC that we hope they’ll see it’s something that’s going to enhance the program.

ATR: What was your reaction to wrestling getting cut by the IOC back in February, and how does that affect your chances next month?

RF: Wrestling, like the other competitors, is a strong sport, and we have to respect them. For sure, we have another strong competitor, but we feel that we are putting together many answers to the requirements of the IOC for coming back onto the Olympic program. We are listening and learning, and now really we can fulfill all the requirements.

DP: We like the competition. That’s what we’re about. We’re about competition, and we’ve got other very good sports that are in the mix with us, and we respect them, but we’re going to work hard. We’re going to work hard to be the one that comes out ahead.

ATR: You addressed the status of Major League Baseball guarantees in the press conference. You said discussions are ongoing. Does your bid stand a chance without guarantees from MLB next month?

RF: We have a good relationship, and we still continue discussion for finding together a realistic solution to give the best player the ability to play in the Olympic Games. The discussion is going on. We have to continue to discuss with other professional leagues, not just MLB, but I’m confident we will find together in the next few months a solution.

DP: You saw the video this morning [of the commissioners from MLB, Nippon Professional Baseball, the Korean Baseball Organization and the Chinese Professional Baseball League backing the bid]. You saw that. They were very positive, very supportive, including MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. And the thing, again, as Riccardo knows, that’s seven years away as far as the decision on whether they’re going to participate, but right now, they’re supportive. They’re all supportive, and we welcome them, and we think we can accomplish a lot with their help and their support, including MLB.

ATR: How committed are each of you to the future of the WBSC? If the Olympic bid fails, will the ISF and IBAF go their separate ways?

RF: I told you before it’s not just for the Olympics because we are convinced that together we can really help each other to grow and develop baseball and softball around the world.

ATR: If your bid is unsuccessful, will you try again for 2024, 2028, etc, or will there be a rethink?

RF: I think if you have a dream, you fight until you reach that dream. If you go to university, sometimes your examinations are no good. Still, you try to study more. So for sure we have to continue because we think, we are convinced that baseball and softball can bring and give added value to the Olympic Games.

DP: I think it’s something we have to assess as to what the decision might be in May as to what we’ll do. We’ll have to assess that. We’ll certainly sit down and discuss what we want to do for the future. As Riccardo said, we’re not throwing in the towel. It took us a long time to put this all together, and we want to make it work.

ATR: How confident are you ahead of next month’s presentation to the IOC Executive Board?

RF: The result of the next presentation? If I know that, I can play the lottery tomorrow. But apart from that, for sure, I can guarantee that we will make the best presentation we can like we did in Lausanne. Now we have something more to tell to the IOC community about what we achieved from December to May.

DP: I’d say we’re cautiously optimistic.

RF: And realistic.

DP: Yes, and realistic.

Reported in Tokyo by Matthew Grayson

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