In my judgment, the reason the vote was taken is a simple one: Baseball and softball are not European sports. The Olympics are Euro-centric and Euro-dominated. I don't think there's much more to it than that.

That's why he was here, to surrender himself to longing, to listen to his host recite the anecdotal texts, all the passed-down stories of bonehead plays and swirling brawls, the pitching duels that carried into twilight, stories that Marvin had been collecting for half a century--the deep eros of memory that separates baseball from other sports.

If over time the World Baseball Classic works the way we hope it will, I think the next time there is a discussion it will be the IOC asking us to come back.

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base.

Baseball hasn't been the national pastime for many years now - no sport is. The national pastime, like it or not, is watching television.

When I played ball, I didn't play for fun... It's no pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out. It's a contest and everything that implies, a struggle for supremacy, a survival of the fittest.