Initially, Men’s Olympic baseball appeared in 1904 St. Louis for the first time as per the record. Afterwards, in 1912, it was played between United States and Sweden. United States won the match with attractive figures of 13-3. In 1936, two teams from United States played against each other at Reichssportfeld. This was the time when Men’s Olympic baseball actually started getting attention and fans, as a result of which it was followed by around 90,000 audiences. Helsinki event was held in 1952, which introduced a tailored form of Men’s Olympic baseball named as Finnish baseball. Furthermore, in 1956, Australia also joined the club and played an exhibition match against United States in Melbourne. This match was attended by around 114,000 audiences at Melbourne Cricket Ground and it held the second highest Men’s Olympic baseball game attended after American exhibition match in Los Angeles. After almost a break for 20 years, Men’s Olympic baseball was declared an exhibition sport/event by IOC. In 1984, Japan defeated United States in inaugural tournament finale. However, in 1988, United States won the same title against Japan.
In 1992’s Summer Olympics, Men’s Olympic Baseball was announced as an official sport comprising of eight teams. Tournament consisted of baseball players who were amateurs. In addition to that, Men’s Olympic baseball tournament consisted of matches of teams to be played against each other. These matches will be followed by semifinals and finals. Men’s Olympic baseball format stayed the same after that for a long period until it incurred some changes in 2000. Those changes were that players requirement of amateurs were eliminated.
Unfortunately, Men’s Olympic baseball has been dropped by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) for the 2012 summer games which will be held in London. IOC states that Men’s Olympic baseball failed to receive majority votes to maintain its place in the summer games 2012. Men’s Olympic baseball, which was there in 2008 Beijing’s Olympic games is not going to be a part of summer games 2012.
