WBSC Congress awards Order of Honour to Robert Smith, Peter O'Malley and Tom Peng

WBSC Congress awards Order of Honour to Robert Smith, Peter O'Malley and Tom Peng
04/07/2022
Monica Abbott, Yukiko Ueno, Chet Gray, Jim Baba and Ana Guevara received the Golden Diamond Award.

The WBSC Congress awarded baseball giants Robert Smith, Peter O'Malley and Tom Peng the Order of Honour.

Monica Abbott, Yukiko Ueno, Chet Gray, Jim Baba and Ana Guevara received the Order of the Golden Diamond Award.

"The Order of Honour represents the supreme honour awarded to those persons who have acted in such a way as to illustrate the ideals of baseball/softball and their outstanding merits in favour of the development of our sport and who have rendered exceptional services to baseball/softball," said WBSC vice president and IOC Member Willi Kaltschmitt to introduce the awards.

Robert Smith, nicknamed Ish by his closest friends, the man who help make baseball an Olympic sport, passed away on 18 August 2021 at 85.

Baseball was an organized sport in 50 countries and territories when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted it to the Olympics programme on 13 October 1986. Following the 2000 Games, baseball's global footprint had expanded to over 100 countries.

Smith was bestowed the Olympic Order, the highest honour give by the IOC.

WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari wrote to Smith's daughter: "In my daily work, I am inspired a lot by your father, and I hope to be able to follow his teachings in the best possible way."

Smith received the support of Peter O'Malley, at the time the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to convince the Los Angeles 1984 Organizing Committee to have baseball as a demonstration sport on the Games programme. O'Malley, the second recipient of the Order of Honour, guaranteed against any financial losses. O'Malley's ownership of the Dodgers (1970-1998) went into history books as The Dodger Way.

The third recipient of the Order of Honour is Tom Peng, the former president of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) and the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) and the current Baseball Executive Vice President on the WBSC Executive Board.
Peng has devoted three decades of his life and career to baseball and was also a long-term sponsor of his alma mater baseball team at the Chinese Culture University.

"The Order of the Golden Diamond recognizes those people that contributed to the development of the WBSC and especially for the continuous support, cooperation and assistance to concrete actions and contributions that made possible the widening of the horizons and the innovation and research in our sport," said Kaltschmitt.

The first Golden Diamond went to professional left-handed softball pitcher Monica Abbott (USA), a collegiate star and an Olympic silver medalist.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Yukiko Ueno (Japan) also received the Golden Diamond. The right-handed softball pitcher will be remembered for her record fastball and her signature change-up.

Chet Gray (Australia) received the Golden Diamond for his accomplishments as National Coaching Director, General Manager and CEO with Softball Australia.

Thje Golden Diamond also goes to WBSC Technical Commissioner Jim Baba (Canada), who recently retired after 21 years as Baseball Canada's Executive Director.

Last but not least, the Golden Diamond goes to former Olympic track and field champion Ana Guevara (Mexico). She has supported Baseball, Softball and Baseball5 while serving as the Director of CONADE, Mexico's National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport.