Riccardo Fraccari

Riccardo Fraccari has served as first-ever president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in Lausanne, Switzerland since 2014. President Fraccari, of Pisa, Italy, was elected International Baseball Federation (IBAF) President in 2009. In 2011, it was through Fraccari’s efforts that a Baseball World Cup for under-12 youth was created. On August 11, 2011, Peter O’Malley took Fraccari to the LA84 Foundation office in Los Angeles to visit its President Anita DeFrantz, IOC Executive Committee member. Fraccari worked diligently to combine efforts on a worldwide stage with the International Softball Federation. It was in December, 2012 that international baseball and softball blended into the newly-formed WBSC. Fraccari was successful to present both baseball and softball to the IOC for future Olympic Games competition. As medal sports, both softball and baseball were strongly competitive in the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. President Fraccari serves as Secretary General of the Association of IOC Recognised International Sport Federations (ARISF) and International Relations for the Italian National Olympic Committee. Fraccari was selected as an umpire for the 1984 Olympic Baseball eight-team exhibition tournament from July 31-August 7 at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles. Baseball was one of two demonstration sports (tennis was the other) for the 1984 Games of the XXIII Olympiad.

In 1990, the IBAF honored O’Malley in its Founders Club. Established in 1989, the Founders Club recognizes those who made significant contributions to worldwide baseball and a plaque is on display at the WBSC headquarters in Lausanne. On May 7, 2019, President Fraccari writes to O’Malley, “You have been key to lay the fundamentals of our future, to you, I am grateful. You have shaped our history, the history of our sport, and that of this organization.  Your vision of Olympic Baseball has undoubtedly helped international development…Thank you for what you have done, thank you for what you will do.”

On March 22, 2021, President Fraccari wrote a letter to O’Malley stating, “I am well aware of how much you have done in supporting baseball’s inclusion in the (Olympic) Games, and it was largely thanks to your work, personal engagements and efforts that baseball was included as a demonstration at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. I remembered that the Dodgers hosted the sold-out exhibition tournament at Dodger Stadium, which provided momentum for the sport to earn gold medal status in 1992 in Barcelona. Peter, we need your help once more, we need your suggestions and we need your guidance:  I’m asking in the name of the international baseball community…I thank you for what you have done and what you can do, and I am sure that once again you will. Help this wonderful sport of baseball to become a truly global sport.” On June 5, 2021, Peter met with Fraccari in Port St. Lucie, Florida during the Olympic Baseball Americas qualifying tournament for the WBSC, along with Major League Baseball’s Chief Baseball Development Officer Tony Reagins.

On July 4, 2022, Peter was awarded the WBSC Order of Honour at the 4th Ordinary Congress in Taipei, Taiwan. WBSC President Fraccari wrote O’Malley about the award stating, “for all you have done for our sport during your entire life, including the inclusion of baseball as a demonstration sport in LA84 Olympics. 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.” Peter O’Malley became the seventh recipient of the honor. Two other 2022 recipients were Dr. Bob Smith (posthumously) and Tom Peng. Previous honorees include Reynaldo Gonzalez Sanchez (2016), Don Porter (2017), Ryozo Kato (2019); and Katsuhiko Kumazaki (2019). On July 19, 2022, O’Malley was bestowed the Order of Honour and its impressive Collar of Honour decoration from President Fraccari at the Reagan Room of the Jonathan Club, Los Angeles. In the WBSC press release, President Fraccari added: “Peter O’Malley helped to shape and lay the foundation for baseball to develop into a global sport.”