Baseball, America's national
 pastime, became an official
 Olympic event in Barcelona in
 1992, after years as a
 demonstration sport.  Although a
 game similar to baseball, rounders,
 was played in England back in the
 1700s, most Americans view
 baseball as an indigenous sport,
 invented by Abner Doubleday in
 Cooperstown, NY in 1839.  

While major leaguers in the U.S.
 play the game with a wooden bat,
 international baseball is played
 with an aluminum one.  Otherwise,
 the rules are basically the same. 
 Baseball is almost as popular in
 Japan and many Latin American
 countries as it is in the U.S.

 In the 1992 Olympics, the U.S.,
 with a team consisting of college
 athletes, many of whom were first
 round Major League draft choices,
 was shut out of the medals by
 stronger teams from Cuba, Japan
 and Taiwan.  Cuba, with 19 world
 titles and nine wins at the Pan
American Games, took the Gold.