Bud Selig
With the possible exception of Scott Boras*, Bud Selig has been the most negatively influential figure in baseball in my lifetime.
I'd be wishing for his resignation or retirement, but for one thing. There's an old prayer in which the supplicant acknowledges to the Lord that yes, things are mighty bad these days, but he knows they could always be worse, but please Lord, don't enlighten him as to how. So, who would replace Bud Selig if he leaves?
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* Boras is the agent for, among other players, Alex Rodriguez. The one who, in the middle of last year's World Series, announced that ARod would be invoking that clause in his contract that enabled him to become a free agent. Even though Rodriguez didn't, you know, really want to do that. I'd be interested in seeing some baseball stat wunderkind put together the scoop on correlating pennant and World Series winning teams with the number of Boras represented players on each roster. ARod may be the best third baseman ever to play the game (doubtful, in my book, but Boras writes his own books), but the Yankees won a lot more World Series with Scott Brosius at third than they have with ARod, who never took Seattle or Texas that deep into the playoffs, either.
Seriously, in the 20 minutes commissioner Bud Selig addressed postponing Game 5, he spent as much time talking about weather forecasters as he did the fact that he was prepared, on the fly, to change a well-hewn rule. While Selig was interested in informing the public that the three weather services MLB contacted said the rain would abate, everyone wondered how he planned to handle the situation had Carlos Pena not driven in B.J. Upton in the sixth inning with the Rays’ tying run.
Selig said he discussed such a scenario before the game with general managers Pat Gillick of the Phillies and Andrew Friedman of the Rays, allegedly telling them the rule stating that a game is complete after 4½ innings did not apply.
“It’s not a way to end a World Series,” Selig said. “And I think there’s enough, and I have enough authority here, frankly, so that I think I’m not only on solid ground, I’m on very solid ground.”
It would have been the right call, of course, though it sets a dangerous precedent – just how far does the commissioner’s in-the-best-interests-of-baseball clause go? – and was made even shadier by the fact that nobody but the brass seemed to know. Fans were clueless, as were the players, who wanted no part of it.
I'd be wishing for his resignation or retirement, but for one thing. There's an old prayer in which the supplicant acknowledges to the Lord that yes, things are mighty bad these days, but he knows they could always be worse, but please Lord, don't enlighten him as to how. So, who would replace Bud Selig if he leaves?
================
* Boras is the agent for, among other players, Alex Rodriguez. The one who, in the middle of last year's World Series, announced that ARod would be invoking that clause in his contract that enabled him to become a free agent. Even though Rodriguez didn't, you know, really want to do that. I'd be interested in seeing some baseball stat wunderkind put together the scoop on correlating pennant and World Series winning teams with the number of Boras represented players on each roster. ARod may be the best third baseman ever to play the game (doubtful, in my book, but Boras writes his own books), but the Yankees won a lot more World Series with Scott Brosius at third than they have with ARod, who never took Seattle or Texas that deep into the playoffs, either.
Labels: baseball
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5 Comments:
Bud is the worst. He is commissioner in name only. May God bless Fay Vincent.
By
Unknown, at 3:12 PM
I agree with the call to suspend the series, and not have the decisive game be rain shortened, but I agree with a column I read earlier today (can't find it at the moment): if he was going to use the "best interests of the game" clause anyway, as I agree that he should have, why not do it in the middle of the fifth rather than the middle of the sixth, before the heavy downpour threw Hammels off his game? I think it's pretty safe to say the weather had a big part in Upton getting across in that mess.
Regardless, the fact that they're skipping tonight too means that Hammels could likely start in a game 7 in Tampa, which to me seems like a good thing in the interest of fairness. And hey, the umps have been terrible all Series -- Selig's just catching onto the fad.
By
Unknown, at 10:09 PM
The game should have never started.
If Tampa had not tied the game in the top of the 6th, Selig would have had essentially no grounds to call the game "suspended" for any length of time he wants. It's an official game, and there's no ground for "suspending" a game that isn't tied. Now, coming back and playing a 3 inning "game" with the Series on the line is a joke.
The irony is that every decision Selig makes is to increase TV revenue, and whenever they do get around to finishing this fiasco, it's going to be lucky if it outdraws Iron Chef America in the ratings.
The only thing more unbelievable than Bud Selig acting in the "best interests of the game" is that Fox keeps paying more and more money for the rights to televise this travesty.
And wait till next year, when the Series doesn't even start till October 25th. They'd better be praying for Anaheim v Arizona for that one.
Now that we're at three rounds of postseason play, with the Division Series probably going to seven games within the next few years, it's time to shorten the season, probably to 148 or 154 games. Occasional Sunday doubleheaders wouldn't be a bad thing either.
By
Barry, at 11:16 PM
Selig actually had the right to suspend the game even without a tie, under the "interests of the game" clause in the rulebook, as I understand it. And frankly, I would have supported that decision.
My biggest beef, frankly, is that WS games are started at fucking 8:30, even at the end of October. If they had started the game at 6, this never would have been a problem.
By
Unknown, at 7:46 PM
I think if Selig was so sure of the ground he was standing on, he would have "suspended" the game after the 4th or 5th inning with the Phillies leading.
Instead, as we infer from his actions, he waited until the Rays tied the game to suspend it, risking injury to any of the players on the field at the time. The grounds crew had the tarp on the filed within seconds of the end of the top of the 6th, and the game was announced as "suspended" within minutes.
To my knowledge, the "best interests of the game" clause has never been invoked to change the rules of any individual game, but rather to deal with issues such as gambling, etc. Would like to see Bud invoke the "best interests" clause to say that players under indictment for felonies can't be allowed to take the field, for example. Good luck with that.
I'll bet Olbermann and O'Reilly both outdrew the tag end of Game 5 last night.
By
Barry, at 11:50 AM
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