Baseball
cctv.com 07-17-2004 13:14
鈥淲e started from scratch. Greek鈥揂merican coach Mike Riskas will be called upon to choose 15 of the best players among the 800 athletes practising the sport in Greece. Another 30 more athletes will be recruited from a core of 100 Diaspora Greeks by the Baltimore Orioles.
These 45 athletes will form the Greek team participating in the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. Our wish is to preserve the National Team after the Games and to gradually include more athletes. The latter will be the offspring of the Hellenic Federation development programmes which have already been operating for two years鈥.
Panayotis Mitsiopoulos
President of the Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation
Description
Baseball is played by two teams, nine players on the field each. The game begins with the team playing defence (in the field): the Pitcher throws the ball to the Catcher standing behind Home Plate.
A strike is called if the ball passes through the strike zone without being hit by the Batter of the team playing offense (at bat).
ATHENS 2004 Baseball
During the 2004 Olympic Games, all Baseball games will take place within the span of 11 days (August 15-25), two of which are designated as rest days (August 19th, August 23rd).
Additionally, all games will be hosted in the Hellinikon Olympic Complex, the Olympic venue second in size after the main one (Athens Olympic Sports Complex or OAKA).
The Olympic Baseball Centre will consist of two fields. Baseball field One, which has a seating capacity of 9,000 and it will host preliminary, semi-final and final games. Baseball Field Two, which has a seating capacity of 4,000 and it will only host preliminary games.
History
The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) was founded in 1938. Today, it has a membership of 111 national federation members. Baseball first appeared in the official schedule of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
All participants were amateur athletes. Cuba won the gold medal both in Barcelona and in the 1996 Games in Atlanta. USA was the Olympic gold winner in the 2000 Games in Sydney. Americans Babe Ruth and Joe Di Maggio are among the uncontested legends of baseball.
The Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation (HABF) was founded in 1997 and counts 19 teams among its members. Maroussi 2004 is the leading team and winner of both Panhellenic Championships (2000, 2001).
Source:The official website of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games
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