Aldo Notari, 73, president of the International Baseball Federation since 1993, died Tuesday at a hospital in his hometown of Parma, Italy, where he was being treated for stomach cancer.
The first European to hold the post, Notari was president of the federation when the International Olympic Committee voted last year to drop baseball and softball from the Olympics after the 2008 Beijing Games. Baseball has been an Olympic sport since 1992.
