Mike Scioscia gets back into managing, will lead Team USA in Olympics quest

For the first time since leaving the Angels three years ago, Mike Scioscia is back in the dugout.

Scioscia was selected Tuesday as manager of Team USA. He’ll lead the team in an Olympic qualifying tournament in Florida in June.

The U.S. is one of 12 countries competing for the final two spots in the baseball tournament at the Tokyo Olympics. Mexico, Israel, South Korea and host Japan already have qualified.

Scioscia is a three-time World Series champion, as a catcher for the Dodgers in 1981 and 1988, and as manager of the Angels in 2002. His 1,650 victories as a major league manager — all in his 19 seasons with the Angels — rank 19th on the all-time list.

Baseball, softball weigh merger for Olympic bid

By their powers combined….

Baseball and softball could merge into one international governing body in hopes of returning to the Olympics.

The sports are meeting with Olympic officials this week to find out how much co-operation is required to regain their summer games status, International Softball Federation President Don Porter said Tuesday.

“There are a lot of benefits of being an Olympic sport. That is what you have to weigh against losing your identity,” Porter told The Associated Press.

Porter and International Baseball Federation (IBAF) President Riccardo Fraccari are meeting separately with IOC sports director Christophe Dubi to get a better idea of the bidding process for the 2020 Olympic program.

Fraccari said the sports “have to study many things.” Baseball-playing countries must first back a joint bid at a Dec. 3 meeting in Dallas.

Baseball and softball are competing with karate, roller sports, sports climbing, squash, wakeboard and wushu for one spot on the 2020 program. The IOC will vote on the sports in September 2013.

The IOC voted in 2005 to remove baseball and softball from the Olympic program after the 2008 Beijing Games.

Two years ago, baseball and softball failed to get IOC support for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics when offering separate proposals for women’s baseball and men’s softball. Golf and seven-a-side rugby, which offered men’s and women’s medal events, were voted onto the 2016 program.

Baseball and softball officials now agree, following IOC advice, that co-operation is their best hope of regaining Olympic status.

al.com: Former Olympic baseball player charged with making meth near Loxley school

It’s B.J. Wallace.

Billy Lyle “BJ” Wallace Jr., 40, and Amber Sheree McKenzie, 29, were being held in Baldwin County Corrections Center as of Wednesday, both charged with first-degree manufacturing of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Wallace, a Monroeville native, pitched for the U.S. team in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and the Montreal Expos picked him third in that year’s amateur draft, signing the left-hander for $550,000, according to baseball-reference.com and Press-Register archives.

He set an Olympic record for strikeouts in a game by fanning 14 in a win over Italy, but he never reached the major leagues. ...

While his professional baseball career never prospered, Wallace put up impressive numbers in organized baseball.

In 1992, Wallace set a Mississippi State University school record with 145 strikeouts, according to baseball-reference.com.