Carlos Manuel Zecca Sequeira (24 August 1922 — 21 February 2008) was a Costa Rican businessman and baseball executive who was the president of the

International Baseball Federation The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is the former international governing body of baseball. It has since been superseded by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and continues to exist as the WBSC's baseball division. Betwee ...

(FIBA) from 1952 to 1969. Zecca's sixteen-year tenure as president of FIBA is the longest in international baseball history.

Career

During his tenure as FIBA president, Zecca organized several regional baseball tournaments, including one in 1956 that saw multiple Central American and Caribbean countries participate. He served as the president of the Costa Rican Baseball Federation starting in 1960. Zecca attempted to centralize the organization, inspired by the example set by the

Confederation of European Baseball A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in 1955. He sought to organize a youth world championship and promoted the

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

team's in their championship-winning 1957 Little League World Series campaign, becoming the first team from outside the United States or Canada to participate. Zecca also took the first steps in organizing international baseball outside the Americas, promoting the foundation of the Asian Baseball Federation. He was a major proponent of including baseball in the Olympic Games, and managed to secure recognition from the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

; baseball was included as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration sport ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, though FIBA was unsuccessful in making it a medal sport. After a long hiatus, he reorganized the

Amateur World Series The Baseball World Cup (BWC) was an international baseball tournament for national teams around the world, sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). First held in 1938 as the Amateur World Series (AWS), it was, for most of its ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

, which was held in his home country of Costa Rica. It was held again in Colombia in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

(though with the controversial absence of the Cuba national team, which was denied visas by the Colombian government). Zecca secured the return of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to the Amateur World Series in

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

; participation of the European nations would follow the next year under his successor, Juan Isa. Zecca's tenure as FIBA president was controversial, as other Central American federations accused his administration as reflecting his own personal ambition rather than the interest of the game. Much of the controversy surrounded the participation of communist Cuba in international events, after the Venezuelan government's decision to deny visas to Cuban players scuttled plans for an Amateur World Series there. Determined to avoid this, Zecca declared that tournament organizers were not bound to ensure attendance of participating countries, if there were issues that "cannot logically be overcome within the laws of international sports."

president

Avery Brundage Avery Brundage (; September 28, 1887 – May 8, 1975) was the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee, serving from 1952 to 1972, the only American and first non-European to attain that position. Brundage is remembered as a z ...

wrote to Zecca in an attempt to secure Cuba's participation in the 1965 Amateur World Series, to no avail. Zecca stood for reelection at the FIBA Congress held in the Dominican Republic in 1969, but lost to Isa in an election that returned just one incumbent to the executive committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zecca, Carlos Manuel International baseball executives 2008 deaths Sportspeople from Limón Province 1922 births