"Most sports have an archetypal height, weight and build you have to be to play, but with baseball, even at the highest level, you've got one player whose 5ft 5 and another whose 6ft 7. Between those two you have a character and a build that every child can look at and say, 'He looks like me. I could be that person.'

"That was the purpose of the Games, that legacy to inspire. But as much as baseball missed out, I think London 2012 missed out by not having baseball there."

The popularity of handball at London 2012 emphasised this missed opportunity ©Getty Images


Despite these disappointments the sport appears to be coping well in both a British and a global sense.

I was given a good indication of this with a visit to the Europe, Africa and Middle East Headquarters of the Major League Baseball (MLB) in London to meet Los Angeles Angels and Great Britain pitcher Michael Roth. The 23-year old represented his country in last year's World Baseball Classic Qualifier and this season became only the third ever Britain to compete in the MLB.

Not for the first time at insidethegames I found myself hopelessly out of my depth with the technical details, which seemed to get steadily more complicated as the evening progressed. Yet, what was remarkable, was how much of what he said bore relevance not just for any athlete but to anyone starting out in a new career.

He stressed the importance of academic qualifications, spoke with refreshing honesty about the incentive of earning money and, most of all, insisted that hard work and a refusal to quit is far more important than natural talent.

"I wasn't the most talented and I don't throw the hardest," he admitted. "But I go out and work hard - that's how I put myself in a position to succeed and to get more opportunities."

Michael Roth gave a refreshingly honest portrayal of the rigours of professional sport
©Getty Images


Roth, as he himself admitted, is very much a "plastic Brit", born and raised in South Carolina and qualifying only by virtue of his English mother, but he seemed to have a genuine desire both to represent his adopted country and to contribute to the growth of the sport here.

He admitted that it will "probably take a home grown British guy breaking in to become a star like David Beckham," and that "competing with other sports such as football is not necessarily a battle you're going to win."

"The kids are seeing Chelsea and Arsenal on television, so they want to go and play football. But baseball has to create its own environment - that's what we do in the US where American Football is a huge rival sport. It's a process which is not going to happen overnight but you just have to keep working hard at it."

This was a point repeated by Lintern when he argued it was not so much appeal that British baseball needed, but awareness. "Getting people to know not about the sport but that there is a local club on their doorstep that they can join.".

At an elite level the recent unveiling of Sport England funding is a major boost. Alongside existing coaching and facilities the major benefit of this will be greater contact time so that the more professional training levels of other European powers, such as Germany, The Netherlands and the Czech Republic, can be replicated.

The scale of baseball in Europe is indeed far greater than I for one expected but, as Roth was at pains to point out, the sport is far from American dominated. Some of the best players in MLB are from places in Latin America and the Far East, he argued, while players also come from Australia, the Netherlands and elsewhere.

The World Baseball Classic, for example, was this year won by the Dominican Republic ahead of Puerto Rico and Japan, with the US languishing down in sixth place.

The success of the Domincan Republic at the World Baseball Classic illustrated the global reach of baseball ©Major League Baseball/Getty Images


But, despite this global appeal and competitiveness, there are certainly issues which need to be resolved should baseball, along with softball, return to the Olympic programme.

The first of these is logistical and relates to where the Olympics would fit alongside the MLB and other major national leagues. Unlike in other sports such as ice hockey, the MLB took no break during past Olympics and this ensured the absence of almost all the sports biggest stars. This problem has echoes of Qatar 2022 and FIFA's Winter World Cup switch fiasco but, as we will surely see there, solutions are possible. It requires patient and careful consultation between all the relative parties.

The second issue concerns doping. Following Thomas Bach's announcement of a $10 million (£6 million/€7 million) fund to tackle the problem, is there really a place for a sport with as abject a recent record as baseball? The extent of this culture was exposed in the 2007 Mitchell Report and, of the 100 players to be suspended over the last decade, are superstars who even I had heard of, like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.

Roth insisted positive steps are being taken. "We're doing our best to clean up the sport and the players union is definitely adopting a hard stance," he assured insidethegames. "There's always going to be doping issues, look at athletics and cycling, but we want it to be clean. That's what the players are seeking because it will be the best for their careers, and it's the same outside the game."

New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez was banned for 211 games in August after a doping violation...but Roth insists progress is being made ©Getty Images


So what prospects of baseball and softball ultimately being on the programme for 2020?

Bach's words last month during a visit to Japan certainly gave hope. The new President's desire for "flexibility" on the sports programme, as well as to appeal to youth populations and to a baseball mad nation, all stand in its favour. It is also worth stating that, given the facilities in place including the Tokyo Dome Stadium; it would not be a particularly complicated or an expensive addition.

Speaking this weekend Bach, rather ambiguously, said that there is usually a seven year waiting limit for new sports. But, that does not rule out baseball and softball, and if there was unanimous agreement it could be added at the Extraordinary IOC Session to be held in Monte Carlo next December, he added.

Without wanting to cop out, it is therefore hard to say either way at the moment.

However what can be said is that, with figures like Roth at the helm, the two sports now have hope and, despite issues which still need to be resolved, there is plenty to be optimistic about ahead.