Okay, the last time I attempted to praise Bug Selig in any fashion, I wound up recanting the whole thing by day's end. But here we are, with the news that Bud has gone back on his retirement pledge (for the second time) and re-upped for three more years, and my immediate reaction is, "This is good for baseball."
I have a standard line when I'm asked about Selig's performance: "A for innovation, D for integrity."
The former includes the wild card, interleague play, three divisions in each league, revenue-sharing, the World Baseball Classic and MLB.com.
The latter includes owning the Brewers while serving as interim commissioner for nearly six years; a longtime failure (which ended only earlier this week) to take accountability for baseball's steroids era; the steroids era in the first place, of course; Selig's decision to take a loan from Twins owner Carl Pohlad; MLB's refusal (scroll down) to allow Omar Minaya's 2003 Expos, very much alive in the pennant race, to make any September call-ups; and, our personal favorite, the hiring of the profoundly conflicted George Mitchell to lead the steroids investigation.
That averages out to a B-/C+, but, as the owners made clear yesterday, innovation _ meaning, of course, money _ trumps integrity every time in the real world.
You and I can rail all we want about all of Selig's ethical snafus, and we should continue to do so. Yet we're pretty much doing that in a vacuum. The businessmen and -women who run the teams obviously care very little about it.
And Congress _ which is about 1,000 times more powerful than the rest of us combined, team owners included _ loves Selig, as long as he listens to them and commits questionable acts like hiring Mitchell as Steroids Cop.
If you judge an industry by its revenues, then Selig is indeed an unqualified success. And don't say that anyone could have pushed baseball ahead like this in the last 15+ years; I don't believe that for a second. Selig possessed the vision to push through the important changes listed above, and he had the personality to get the owners, a highly diverse and divided group, on board with those changes _ and to peacefully coexist with the union since the disastrous 1994-95 work stoppage.
I also think that Selig's lack of panache (see the above photo) works against him in the general public _ he's nowhere as smooth as his NFL and NBA counterparts Roger Goodell or David Stern _ but works in his favor internally; he comes off as a salt-of-the-earth guy. Most owners like Bud, and most reporters do, too, even ones like myself who criticize him pretty regularly. Selig is also a major advocate of reporters being allowed in clubhouses, which allows us to get better information to the readers.
So go ahead. Fire away at Bud. I probably won't disagree with many of your comments. But I am sticking to the belief that, in the real world, baseball will remain in good hands through 2012.
Comments (22)
Ken, I couldn't disagree with you more on Bud Selig. I don't believe a single word he says and neither should anyone else. He has proved time after time that he cannot be trusted to tell the truth. Just look at all his statements concerning the commissionership (he said he wasn't interested, that he wouldn't do it, that he would retire, etc.). I am a traditionalist and I don't see where all of his "innovations" have been good. I don't know why it's a good idea to have the Yankees playing the Astros during the regular season. I don't like 3 divisions. Innovations? What's next? Two strikes and three balls?
Selig is the guy behind cancelling the World Series. Under him we had the tie All-Star game. He fits the worst image of a car salesman, which he was. He shook down his hometown for a new stadium with endless threats and then cashed in on the increased value of the franchise by selling. He ignored the steroid problem for more than a decade. His revenue sharing has produced nothing but a bunch of owners living off their own teams. Wasn't Bud one of the guys whose payroll was lower than his revenue sharing one year? Bud is a disaster.
His $14.5 million salary last year is sickening. Baseball, like all sports in the past 15 years, has seen its revenues explode. You could have been commissioner, Ken, and the same thing would have happened. Does it really make sense to have the Mets play the Yankees six times every single year? The games have quickly declined in excitement. If Bud wants to do something good for the game, let him "work his magic" by getting rid of the DH. Sadly, I would bet, that if the DH didn't exist today, Bud would advocate for it because it might allow the owners to increase the cost of hot dogs by five cents. Does Bud love baseball the way you and I do? No. Maybe he once did. Does he love money? Yes. You are way too generous in your assessment and just plain wrong on the facts. Bud will go down as one of the worst. (I've also never seen him at the BBWAA dinner. Oh, I forgot. He's probably home counting his money.)
Lowell is 100% right about a 100% test. Seems like a smart dude concerning alot of things.REFRESHING.
LOL, Jim. As I wrote, I don't disagree with much there. But let's look at the regular-season "Subway Series," as a perfect example. Is it a joke? Yes, it's a complete violation of scheduling integrity. But the next Yankees-Mets game that doesn't sell out will be the first.
I hear you Ken. But, the Yankees sell out every game anyway and the Mets had a pretty high average, too. No one can argue that there isn't a buzz like there was just a couple of years ago. The teams themselves hate it. If it's a necessary evil, then it should be three games at Yankee Stadium and three the following year at Shea/Cit. Not 3 and 3 every single year. That's overkill. Does anyone want to see Pittsburgh play Tampa Bay? The whole interleague concept has to be rethought. But it won't. We have had to endure the DH for 35 years with no end in sight.
Ken - due to his ethical lapses, should Bud be barred for the Hall of Fame? How would writers vote if they had a chance (I know he would be a veteran's committee selection)?
I concur with Jim in many ways, and must add that interleague play, divisions, etc. were adopted by the other pro sports leagues before baseball - it wasn't brain surgery or an original thought.
And as for Bud's legacy, do not forget collusion...even though Bud wasn't commissioner, he was part of a $ 280 million settlement with the MLBPA.
RMT: No way would I vote Bud for the HOF. Integrity plays a far greater role in that context.
I agree with both of you that many of the changes weren't revolutionary. But to get all 30 owners on board with those changes was a feat that I, for one, could not have pulled off.
Bud's a clever guy, playing Congress like a fiddle so far. But hopefully we'll soon find out just how "incomplete" the Mitchell Report is.
In the interim, one can only hope that a power drain brings small ball back in fashion. Hit-and-runs, squeeze plays, double steals, run downs, plays at the plate, stretching singles. I miss those.
Jim I agree with your first rant but not your second. I think Bud Selig has done the worst job of any commissioner in sports history. Yes, in sports history.
Here are the negatives that are un-arguable.
1)1994 W.S. cancelled
2) All Star Game tie (in his own home park!!)
3) Records tainted under his watch
4) I cant afford to go to four games a year. I'm glad (very sarcasticlly said) the players and owners are printing money, but a regular guy like me has been priced out.
5) There are only 12 or so teams that can ever win the World Series again. There maybe aberrations but basically the W.S. will be competed for by the same teams year after year.
*I actually dont blame him for the steroids scandal, but it did happen right under his nose and he did nothing about it.
*I also am one of the few that remember loving baseball pre 1993, before the wild card. I know no one is going to believe me, but did you know fans actually cared about baseball before then? Like people went to games and stuff.
Richie, I hear you on issues 1 through 4, but I have to take issue with #5. Since 2000 _ in the last eight seasons, in other words _ 21 of the 30 teams have made the playoffs.
Of course more teams will make the playoffs because there are double the teams that make it now. But how many of those teams that make it have a legitimate chance to win? Legitimate??
And the teams that have the unique bland of young talent that is major league ready has to give them up when they dont want to. Torrii Hunter and Johan Santana. Do you think the Twins want to give these guys up or are they doing it for financial reasons?
What about the A's? They gave up Tejada, Giambi, Zito, Mulder, Hudsen and Damon. OK that team would suck now but they couldn't keep their guys.
When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, I dont know if they had one person who was drafted.
This to me is not progress.
How many playoff teams have a legitimate chance to win it all, Richie? All of them. If the 2006 Cardinals could pull it off, then any team could.
It's true that the A's couldn't keep those guys, but Billy Beane didn't want to keep them, anyway.Of the six players you mentioned, only Damon has not let down his post-Oakland employer.
I appreciate that Mike Lowell is willing to submit to a test, but the 100% is a cop-out. Why does he assume a 1% error rate only provides false positives ? Would not the same statistics provide "false negatives". I'm not sure that any system can be 100% accurate, so to say you will participate if it is, is tantamount to saying you won't participate. It is just better public relations.
As far as his statements about coverage, he is 100% right that baseball is held to a different standard and that is why we should all take what congress, ESPN and Talk radio say with a grain of salt, because they are all followers. No one wants to take on the all mighty NFL, it is not good public relations.
If the wild card had been in baseball in the eighties, can you imagine how many world series titles those Mets teams would have had?
Another Selig embarrassment was Contraction, convincing all but two owners to kick two teams (most likely the Twins and Expos) off the island in late 2001.
Fortunately, it never happened, and Selig got what he deserved in the 2002 season. The Twins won their first of three straight AL Central titles, the Expos finished 2nd in the NL east, and guess who was the worst team in the NL? That's right...The Brewers at 55-106, with attendance down almost a million from the previous season, only their 2nd year at Miller Park.
At least Selig deserves some credit for taking the bullet in 1994 and moving the Brewers to the NL for realignment.
Actually, Cowbell, many feel (and I agree with them) that Bud wanted to move the Brewers to the NL so he could get all of those Cubs games - close enough to Chicago for the many passionate Cubs fans to take to the road and buy Selig family sausages.
Have fun at Barat & Jen's next week.
And, in moving to the NL, Bud's Brewers could carry at 12th pitcher at the minimum, and avoid paying millions to a DH.
Ken, while sure its possible a team like the 2006 Cardinals (with Albert Pujols & Scott Rolen) can win, its not likely.
And do you really think Billy Beane would always rather give away his best players who are All-Stars for prosepects? Always?? Like every time?
It's not that he wants to, he has to. And he's great at it. But other GM's aren't as great. And those teams will never contend.
I mean lets look at Tampa Bay. Lets see if there able to keep all this young talent they have when they grow into stars. My guess is no.
So its great for Yankees and Met fans who will always keep their best players and pilfer the other teams. But its not great for baseball fans who would rather see every team, even a team in Green Bay (or Milwaukee) have a chance.
Richie, obviously the Yankees and Mets (and Red Sox) have a greater ability than other teams to retain their best players. All I'm saying is, history has shown that you're often better off letting those guys go - like the Red Sox did with Pedro and Damon, and like Billy Beane probably wishes he did with Eric Chavez.
Let's check in three years from now and see how the Yankees are feeling about those huge deals for Posada and Rivera.
If you're judging success by a World Series victory, then the Yankees and Mets haven't had much success in the last seven years, right? So the enormous financial disparity hasn't produced the results you'd expect.
Ken dont get me started with the overrattedness (yes thats a word!) of Omar Minaya!
Yes the Red Sox were better off letting Damon go. But were they better letting another team sign Manny Ramirez? Remember when they litterally couldn't give him away?
But that's another tangent. My point is under Seligs watch, superstar players have left their initial team because the team they played on couldn't come close to affording them. Imagine how the Expos of the mid 90's or the Mariners would have turned out. I bet the A's could have made a bigger run than they did. Did Florida really want to get rid of Becket, Penny, Pavano (ok maybe him) Willis (him too?), and Cabrera?
You live in NY. You get to see good baseball. Go to Pittsburgh for five years and then tell me Selig is good for baseball.
He's the worst commissioner in the history of baseball. He let Donald Fehr run all over him.
I understand your point, Richie, and it's a valid one. I'm just saying, the smart teams (like the A's, and the Marlins, and definitely NOT the Pirates) work through that difficulty. And retention of those players guarantees very little, anyway. AND, more and more teams are retaining their players (see Tampa Bay and Carlos Pena) because the health of the industry is growing.
Lowell attempts to raise a decent argument on the testing front. Unfortunately it is a red herring. There is no 100% test. We get false positives and negatives on HIV, STD, and cancer screens. There is no 100% test on the horizon. A clean player should have his own blood and urine taken and stored at a licensed private facility. The union can certify selected locations. Given the limitations of science and the gross negligence seen at crime labs around the country this is basic ballplayer protection.
But not retaining your star players means fans cant get to fall in love with their superstars and that team probably wont contend. Yes the team that overpays may pay a big price as well, but at least they have a shot at getting greatness.