International Pastime looks at baseball's influence outside the U.S.Baseball is a uniquely American sport -- and by that I include North, South and Central America. It's certainly gained traction is some parts of Asia, but for the most part the game is played on this side of the pond. This fact became even more clear when Great Britain officially ended their Olympic bid, not for lack of qualifying (they were still in the race), but simply lack of funding. From the BBC:
The British baseball team was funded by UK Sport until 2005, the same year the sport was dropped by the International Olympic Committee for the 2012 Games and beyond.How much money did the team need to compete in Taiwan? A mere £40,000, which translates to roughly $80,000. In this day and age of corporate sponsorship, it blows my mind some company like Nike or adidas or even a generous MLB owner (how about Tom Hicks? He could use some positive English p.r.) didn't just step up to the plate simply to be known as the company that saved baseball in Britain. I mean, 80 grand? That's a rounding for these guys.
The British Olympic Association stepped in and acquired an Olympic solidarity grant of $100,000 (£50,000) from the IOC which funded the team through 2006 and 2007.
"That money was used to play in the 2007 European Championships, where we finished second," said Fromer.
"And that result meant we qualified for the final Olympic qualifying tournament, along with seven other teams, which starts this week, but it also used up the rest of our funds.
