With the sport on its way out, winning a fourth gold medal takes on more importance for the players and their country

By Janie McCauley

Associated Press

PHOTOS BY ASSOCIATED PRESS >> Olympic baseball is one of the few major forums Cuba has to show off its talent away from home.

WHEN the first Olympic baseball pitch is thrown in Beijing, the Cubans will be feeling the crunch perhaps more than ever before. This is it, base-ball’s last hurrah on the world’s biggest stage - at least for now.

This is where the Cubans shine and one of the few major forums they have to show off the country’s talent away from home. After these games in China, where major league scouts will be out in force, the second edition of the World Baseball Classic next year will take on even more importance for the Cubans and other nations that cherish baseball for the morale boost it gives their people.

“Are we going to win in Beijing? Nobody knows,” said Jos Ramn Fernández, president of the Cuban Olympic Committee. “We are going to do all we can to win all the possible titles. We want to win, but that can’t be predicted in any sport.”

The Cubans certainly can be considered a favorite to bring home gold, as the country’s dominance in baseball at the international level is unparalleled.

Cuba has won three of the four Olympic gold medals since baseball became a medal sport in 1992 - settling for silver in 2000 when it was upset by the United States.

Baseball officials from around the world, and players at all levels, too, are hopeful their sport will be back on the program after missing the 2012 Games.

“That’s another reason why the World Baseball Classic has become so important,” said Seattle Mariners president Chuck Armstrong, a member of the international committee. “We’re doing what we can to get back in the Olympics.”

Davey Johnson will lead a team of minor leaguers into Beijing.

Some believe that might mean going back to a strictly amateur roster of college stars for the Olympics, rather than a team like the one the United States will send featuring high-level minor leaguers on the cusp of reaching the majors.

“If you’re going to have the World Baseball Classic, it doesn’t make any sense to have a Triple-A team playing in the Olympics. Go back to having a true college-type team,” said Ed Sprague, a college coach at Pacific in Northern California and the only person to win an Olympic gold medal, College World Series and World Series.

“I was lucky from a timing standpoint. Back then, people were saying, ‘Did you train to go to the Olympics?’ No. I just happened to be a junior coming out of college and I was good enough to try out for the team and my versatility got me there.”

Cuba - which loses its share of top players to defection - fell short to Japan in the inaugural WBC two years ago.

The Cubans have long considered themselves amateurs, though they truly are much closer in talent to the millionaire players in the major leagues.

“In Cuba, baseball is the clear national sport,” said Cuban third baseman Michel Enrquez, one of the team’s most feared hitters. “It’s a blow that it won’t stay in the Olympic Games. But it is a sport that will continue being supported on the island.

“I believe that there will be a positive reaction in the world and that baseball will return to the Olympic program. I can’t imagine that won’t happen.”

Cuba won its 10th straight Pan Am Games baseball title last July, beating the United States. Then, in November, the Americans bounced back with a victory over Cuba in the World Cup final, denying the Cubans a 10th straight championship in that event.

Are the Cubans resigned to the fact their most high-profile baseball might from now on be played in the WBC?

“That would seem to be the case, but the Cubans never give up hope,” Fernández said.

Added star pitcher Pedro Lazo, an Olympic champion in 1996 and 2004 who also played on the runner-up WBC team: “The Cubans grow in the difficult moments.”

The Americans plan to make a run at gold - especially considering the U.S. team didn’t even qualify for the last Olympics. Davey Johnson, the U.S. manager, was scouting for the Dutch national team in Panama in 2003 and watched the Americans’ loss to Mexico that cost the United States a bid.

“We had the best team in 2004. We gave up two runs and didn’t qualify,” Team USA general manager Bob Watson said. “The thing we learned the most from the not qualifying in 2004 is to have some semblance of balance. We had great pitching, but it wasn’t a balanced hitting club. Dave likes power, speed, balance. So we’re going down that path now.”