What I can say is that the overall atmosphere of the sport is such that there are a lot of reasons that people on the outside should be optimistic about our chances of reaching an agreement.

Kirby played the game with such passion and enthusiasm that he was beloved by players and fans throughout all of baseball.

Over the last five or six years, there's a lot more day-to-day contact between our offices on a whole host of things. You develop better working relations as a result of doing that. You hope that that translates into something which makes bargaining a little easier. But that's something you wait to find out.

I've heard there are a lot of people that are optimistic that this is going to be a big change for the positive. And I certainly hope they're right.

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.

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.