The president of the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation (FIBS) Riccardo Fraccari now officially is a candidate to become President of the International Baseball and Softball Federation (IBAF) at the congress in Lausanne, Switzerland on December 6.
According to the report on Baseball.it the application by Fraccari was sent and signed by the national baseball associations in the United States, Cuba, Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Panama and obviously Italy. With that much support the former umpire Fraccari should be considered the favorite to succeed Dr. Harvey Schiller at the election 30 days from now.
Schiller wrote on his blog on Thursday and hopes that the growth of the sport continues in the future.
“Specifically, the relationship we now have with MLB, MLBPA, and other professional organizations is at an all time high. It’s imperative that we keep these connections as strong as possible in the years ahead. I do hope that the upcoming December election is held with focus on the future of the organization and not on any self serving issues.“
Right now, we do not know, if there will be other candidates to become IBAF president. The current secretary general of the IBAF, the Australian John C. Ostermeyer is probably also going to run for the post. The resigning head of the MLBPA Donald Fehr had expressed his interest in the past too. But with USA Baseball supporting Fraccari his application for president seems unlikely. There also will be elections for other posts in the executive committee, as such 1st, 2nd and 3rd vice president, treasurer, secretary general, council members and vice presidents for each of the five continents.
Fraccari’s main points in his program are reinstatement of Baseball into the Olympics, and the reorganization of the IBAF and its international competitions. It is also interesting that the Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB) signed the application of Fraccari, as the relationship between the two federations was stressed at times in the past. But apparently during last weekend’s meeting of Europe’s Baseball giants in Prague, Czech Republic both sides found common ground and reached an agreement.