By David Crary
The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece - The Greek fans have cheered heartily, despite shaky knowledge of the game, but nonetheless the Olympics are proving that baseball has far to go before it can truly claim to be a global sport.

The best teams from South America and Africa were too weak to qualify, and the European teams - supposedly improving - have been battered by more powerful rivals from Japan, Cuba and Australia. Boosters of international baseball hope the glaring gap won't heighten skepticism among some Olympic officials who already question the sport's future in the games.

Italy, the European champion with baseball roots dating to World War II, lost to Japan 12-0 and Australia 6-0. The Netherlands, No. 2 in Europe, lost 22-2 Saturday to Australia, and finished the tournament Sunday with a .197 batting average and 7.02 ERA.

Worse off, in some ways, was host nation Greece, which has only 1,000 or so serious players and recruited Greek-Americans for the Olympics. Even with U.S. minor leaguers on the roster, the Greeks finished 1-6, beating only Italy.

Mike Riskas, a Greek-American who helped coach Greece's team, insisted baseball is growing stronger in Europe - in such diverse countries as Russia and France - but acknowledged the continent is a weak link as the sport seeks Olympic permanency.

"Progress is slow," he said. "I don't know what to blame it on."

Two years ago, an International Olympic Committee panel recommended that baseball - a medal sport since 1992 - be dropped from the games because of lack of global popularity and the absence of top major leaguers. A reprieve came in May: The IOC said no sport would be dropped at least through the 2008 Beijing Games, with a review of all sports planned before it awards the 2012 Games next July.

"Baseball should never go away from the Olympics," said Australian coach Jon Deeble. "We've got guys who just want to play for their country. If that's taken away from them, it's a tragedy."

Without help from major leaguers, the U.S. team failed to qualify for Athens. Cuba and Canada won the Americas' two berths.

If Major League Baseball let its multinational stars compete, baseball would immediately gain Olympic cachet - and the Dominican Republic would have a chance for its first gold medal. But MLB doesn't want to lose top players in midseason, and instead favors a baseball World Cup to be played in March starting in 2006.

Davey Johnson, the former New York Mets manager who coached the Dutch Olympic team, said a World Cup would benefit baseball. But he noted that the Olympics provides the only rationale for some nations to support the sport, and said MLB should try its best to participate.

"There are a lot of problems involved," Johnson said in his dugout after a 9-2 loss to Cuba. "But Japan sends its top players, and it would be nice if MLB, with the best in the world, could get involved."

Australian catcher Dave Nilsson, a former MLB all-star with Milwaukee, agreed.

"The Olympics right now have asterisks," he said. "The best of the best aren't here. Until they are, there will be questions."

Without major leaguers, and with an imbalanced field, the Olympic tournament has lacked some spark. In several games not involving Greece, the stands were less than a quarter full - one early game drew 693 people to a 4,000-seat stadium.

Yet coaches, players and officials praised the local fans.

"They don't know much about baseball, but they watch with enthusiasm," said Panayotis Mitsiopoulos of the Greek Baseball Federation. "Someday baseball will be as famous here as soccer."

For now, there's much to learn. Fans at a Greece-Australia game booed some clearly correct calls and seemed puzzled by an Australian's bunt single.

During a corny rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," they neither sang along nor stood for what in North America would have been the seventh-inning stretch.

The organizers perhaps could have done more homework. There were no vendors hawking refreshments, and synthetic sound effects intended to induce cheers occasionally seemed mistimed.

Paul Seiler, executive director of USA Baseball, hopes the IOC takes a long-term view.

"Baseball is good for the Olympics; the Olympics is good for baseball," he said. "These are two entities that need each other."

"The question should be, 'What did the games in Athens accomplish?'" Seiler added. "Did baseball grow in this part of Europe? Will the commitment be there after the fact? Those are questions that will take time to answer."