Selig plans to step down after 2012 season.

[Invader3K]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-29-rogers-inside-baseball-nov29,0,7878474.column

 

Selig is entering the closing chapters of his tenure. He made that point semi-officially during an owners meeting in Chicago in mid-November.

According to sources, a group of five owners approached the 75-year-old Selig about remaining on the job beyond the end of his contract, which expires after the 2012 season.

It was the same kind of approach that had been used to convince him to stay in charge at least two other times, the first being after he stepped in as head of the executive council to lead ownership after Fay Vincent[/i] was forced to resign as commissioner in 1992. Selig's tenure most recently had been scheduled to end in 2009, but his deal was extended quietly in early 2008.

This time, according to sources, Selig told the owners he will step aside after 2012 -- not because he is tiring but because he has other things to do while he's able.

Reached at his Milwaukee office Wednesday, Selig declined to discuss his conversations with ownership but confirmed he plans to stay on the job three more years. That means the next labor agreement, due to be negotiated in 2011, would be his final official act.

---

 

I personally think Selig has done much more good than bad during his tenure. I know some fans are still upset about the state of the game (inequity in small markets, etc), but I think Selig has by and large done as much as he can. There's no denying how successful the game is today, and much of that has to do with Selig's initiatives as commissioner.

[Ennder]

I am not a big fan of Selig the owner because I think he purposely let the team fall apart in order to push his agenda.

 

I think Selig the commissioner did a pretty darn good job though.

[Invader3K]

I pretty much agree. People tend to blur the line between Selig's ownership tenure in Milwaukee (especially the latter part, ignoring that he did get Miller Park built and kept the team in Wisconsin) with his tenure as commissioner. Two completely different things.

[thebruce44]

The move to the Wild Card and Interleague play are reason enough to call him a success as a commissioner in my mind. He got the owners and players to move forward (albeit in small steps) in a sport that has been well behind the times and obsessed with irrelevant traditions.

[logan82]

People tend to blur the line between Selig's ownership tenure in Milwaukee (especially the latter part, ignoring that he did get Miller Park built and kept the team in Wisconsin) with his tenure as commissioner.

 

Don't forget he brought baseball back to Milwaukee in 1970. Maybe we have baseball in Milwaukee without Selig. I think without himw we don't have baseball in Milwaukee.

[RockCoCougars]

The only thing that I can get upset with Bud about is giving a job to Laurel Prieb. Don't get me started on his daughter though.

[Patrick425]

I have to repeat this every time the subject of Selig and what he did as an owner of the Brewers comes up. I don't know how anyone who is a Brewer fan can criticize his ownership tenure here. If I had to pick one personal hero for myself when it comes to baseball and how that person has effected my love for the game, it's Bud Selig.

Bud Selig = The Brewers. Period. Without him, there are no Brewers. It's as simple as that. In my opinion, that negates any perceived ownership faults he may have had. At the very least there is no Brewers in Milwaukee without Bud. If you want to accuse him of having selfish motives to build Miller Park, so be it. The fact is that if Miller Park is not built, there would no longer be a MLB franchise in Milwaukee. If you don't think that is true, then I think you are kidding yourself.

I often think of what my relationship with baseball would have been if Selig had not brought baseball back to Milwaukee in 1970. I think it would be casual at best and I probably would have followed in my father's footsteps and become a Cub's fan.

[BrewCrewForever]

I got mad respect for Bud. Like Patrick425 said without him there is no baseball in 1970 and probably not Miller Park which again would mean no baseball. As far as Commish, he was pretty good. Got the Wild Card, Interleague play, revenue sharing and realignment. Wish he would move forward with better replay before he leaves. Not sure of that will happen.

[Oldcity]

The only thing that I can get upset with Bud about is giving a job to Laurel Prieb. Don't get me started on his daughter though.

 

Anyone else miss Russ' old avatar?

[pitchleague]

I don't have too much time to get into this, but the views of Selig on this site are far and away from the norm from across the country. Many fans and writers are completely against Selig and all he stands for. They might concede that the wild-card playoffs is okay, but for the most part, the 1994 strike did him in and many can't see past that.

 

I like the guy. I understand why the strike occurred. But far too many people in this country that aren't from Wisconsin and/or aren't Brewers fans are 180-degrees from us in the view of Bud Selig.

 

Sadly, they use the strike and the "problems" with free-agency/salary escalation as their pulpit and they pretty much refuse to budge.

 

Amazingly, Bud Selig will likely be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York before you know it. Just wait until the arguing by the national pundits begins for that one.

[LouisEly]

The national media and fans criticize Selig for the All-Star game tie and for not doing enough about steroids. Those critics have no idea what it was like for Selig to be in those positions. They don't know that it was the managers of both teams in the All-Star game telling Selig that they were out of players and begging him to call the game to prevent any injuries to their pitchers; those critical fans and media can say what they want, but they will never know what it was like to be in his shoes at that game at that moment. They can say he looked the other way about steroids during the McGwire/Sosa HR derby in 1999, but those critical fans and media have no idea what it is like to try to negotiate with the players union. Selig knew that another strike would cripple the game if not destroy it completely. Those critical fans and media have no idea how much of a no-win situation Selig has been in on many fronts, and how he has been able to negotiate his way out of those no-win situations to find solutions where no one wins, but no one loses either.

 

Selig isn't perfect. He's made a few mistakes. But I'd like everyone who has gone an entire lifetime in whatever profession or occupation they have without making any mistakes to stand up and raise their hand. (Crickets...) I thought so.

 

I dare say that there is no one who cares about the game of baseball as much as Selig. And I dare say that without Selig not only might there not be baseball in Milwaukee, but if not for him there might not be baseball period.

 

Thank you Bud for everything you've done. May you find a successor that cares as much about the game as you.

[thebruce44]

I don't have too much time to get into this, but the views of Selig on this site are far and away from the norm from across the country. Many fans and writers are completely against Selig and all he stands for. They might concede that the wild-card playoffs is okay, but for the most part, the 1994 strike did him in and many can't see past that.

I think everyone here already understands and agrees with you on that one. If anything though, it just gives me more respect for Bud. Everyone is criticizing the guy, and he has made himself the target in order to move the game in the right direction. He didn't quite get it there, but he did a damn good job with what he had.

[Ennder]

I disagree with the majority of people about the majority of subjects so it won't surprise me if everyone hates Selig. People tend to place too much of the blame on the single individual and ignore the moves he made that were good or at least reasonable and single out the things he did that they don't specifically like.

 

I mean someone who doesn't like the all star game deciding home field advantage is just giving an opinion, but in their mind Selig is a monster for making the change. The reality is the change wasn't caused just by him alone or anything, it is way more political than that. It also isn't clearly wrong or right, it is completely subjective.

[nate82]

They can say he looked the other way about steroids during the McGwire/Sosa HR derby in 1999, but those critical fans and media have no idea what it is like to try to negotiate with the players union. Selig knew that another strike would cripple the game if not destroy it completely. Those critical fans and media have no idea how much of a no-win situation Selig has been in on many fronts, and how he has been able to negotiate his way out of those no-win situations to find solutions where no one wins, but no one loses either.

Those same fans and critics were also turning a blind eye during 1999. To blame Selig for it but yet not a single reporter at ESPN even questioning it or asked about the steroids. McGwire even had the bottle sitting right in his locker in plain sight for the reporters to see and when it was found it very little reporting was done about it.

 

Also if Selig would have gotten his way when the players union striked that first time there would have been steroid testing in baseball. Would Selig have been looked as a hero of the sport then if that would have happened? I doubt anyone would have changed their minds about Selig then either. Everyone hates Selig for not doing more than what he did but he did all that he could.

[jeffy]

Many fans and writers are completely against Selig and all he stands for.

Yep

 

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2009/0714/pg2_a_seligumps_576.jpg

[BrewCrewForever]

That is another thing I love about Bud. He loves baseball and is very passionate about the game. He knows the history as well as anybody. People will always give him crap about the All-Star game tie and the strike, that won't ever change. They just don't get it.

[Baldkin]

What irks me the most, is the complaints about Bud's tenure as commissioner always stem about 3 things: Steroids, Revenue Sharing (and/or a salary cap) and the strike.... oh, and the idiocy of BOTH managers burning through 14 pitchers in 9 innings.

What gets me the most is, he was supposed to have avoided a players strike and gotten this exorbitant drug testing program and a salary cap! You ask people "How?" They never have an answer or even the hint of a suggestion.

 

But, lets all throw stones at the kind of geeky old guy.

[bucks2281]

People love to hate Bud. Somehow, someway he was supposed to establish an elaborate a drug-testing program and institute a salary cap. Yet, they forget to mention the Wild Card, playoff expansion, record attendance, interleague play and the goodwill/excitement of the 1998 HR chase. Here are some of the Bud-related responses from another board I frequent:

 

-Integral to pretty much ensuring both the Yankees and Red Sox make the playoffs every year, yeah. Good riddance to Bud Lite.

 

-I think that baseball will be a lot better without him involved. Except for adding a wild card in the playoffs and creating interleague play, in my opinion I think he was the worst commissioner in all of sports.

 

-Bud's Weak Spot is not Standing up enough to the Owners (Salary Cap, Territorial Scalebacks, etc.) Maybe a new commish can change that.

 

-Bud "Light" (Kenesaw Molehill) Selig has failed at everything he has touched. He will not be missed.

 

Frustrating. I know we have a wee bit of bias as Brewer fans, but to rate him below Gary Bettmann or David Stern is wrong, imo. Some people hate Bud just because it's fashionable to do so.

[Invader3K]

I made this point on the MLBTR board, but Selig is just the Commissioner of Baseball, not the Emperor of Baseball. I don't know how much more people really expected him to do without becoming completely irrational in their opinions. I think this point from Baldkin sums it up perfectly: What gets me the most is, he was supposed to have avoided a players strike and gotten this exorbitant drug testing program and a salary cap! You ask people "How?" They never have an answer or even the hint of a suggestion.

 

I think his biggest mistake was not letting the strike go longer. Of course, that could have crippled the sport financially for many years, so that was probably an untenable position. I just think the sport may have been better off in the long run if they had forced the salary cap and some other issues. Then again, I'm not convinced a salary cap is the answer. I think most casual fans look at the other sports and assume baseball should be like the NFL or NBA and have one too.

 

Personally, I love interleague play and the Wild Card. I wish he would fix the unbalanced divisions, but maybe that's something he can take care of before he leaves office.

[kramnoj]

I think his biggest mistake was not letting the strike go longer.

 

That wasn't a mistake, as a federal judge ruled against the owners and ordered play again under the previously expired CBA. I'm not sure how much of a role Selig really played. He was the interim commissioner at the time. He was more of a figurehead than a leader.

 

I've become more of a fan of the sport under Selig's stewardship and I've liked the changes that he has made. I don't know how much Selig had to do with MLBAM, but the decision to consolidate all team websites through the league and equally share revenue was certainly a good one. I think MLB's website is quite good and the introduction of the MLB network and the work that was done beforehand to try to get it on most cable systems went fairly well.

[Invader3K]

I think you're right, kramnoj. I remember President Clinton publicly calling for baseball to resume for the good of the country. There was intense pressure on MLB to have a normal season after scrapping the World Series in '94.

 

You are correct that the internet media and MLB Network have been huge boons, too. MLB Network was one of the biggest channel launches ever, and if you compare it to NFL Network and Big 10, MLB Network got it right, whereas those other channels really struggled to gain carriage and attract advertising. Hopefully these sorts of new media initiatives lay the groundwork for more revenue sharing in the future ala the NFL.

[thebruce44]

Get a salary cap and steroid testing but no strikes! Bud just couldn't win.

[snyttri]

It was noted that the strike ended because the owners violated labor laws which they have done on a regular basis. If there will ever be a salary cap in the distant future I think the owners will have to have developed some trust with the players. Although Bud had a reputation as a colluder in the old days there has been a period of labor peace recently and he deserves some credit for that.

 

I think Bud deserves blame for being either willfully ignorant or inactive against PEDs until late in the game. He says he saw greenies in the Milwaukee Braves clubhouse as a child but became aware of PEDs as commissioner IIRC through the media. I think the commissioner has better access to information about widespread practices in baseball than that. IIRC a former FBI agent has stated he notified MLB about PED activity early on.

 

The commissioner has a bully pulpit and he could have exerted public pressure for testing that labor would have had difficulty responding to. Labor didn't have anything to say about the testing implemented in response to congressional action. The pro-narcotics lobby exists but it is pretty marginalized.

 

Although Bud seems like a great down to earth guy who loves baseball and was friendly to me when I met him at a convenience store I don't think he is above criticism.

[owbc]

The good:

-Wild Card/realignment

-MLB Network

-World Baseball Classic

-New stadiums/record attendance

-Not touching Pete Rose situation

-Interleague play

 

The bad:

-1994 Strike

-Delayed response to steroid situation

-Playoff schedule realignment

 

The ugly:

-2002 All Star Game

 

Debatable/TBD:

-All Star game home field advantage

-Revenue sharing

-Montreal Expos' move to DC

-Instant replay

-Current PED use in baseball

-Next CBA

 

From this list, I conclude that he had an extremely active tenure as commissioner. However, his real legacy will be decided by the next CBA. If we end up with increased revenue sharing and draft reform, the 2010s will likely be another great decade for MLB. If the status quo continues, the next commissioner could be stuck with extreme competitive imbalance and major attendance/financial problems in cities where futility streaks will start to be measured in decades.

 

Edit: I should add that Bud's major flaw is how he measures the success of baseball. I have no doubt that Bud loves baseball more than anything, but his measure of success is from a businessman's perspective. Just because MLB has high TV ratings, attendance, and revenue does not necessarily mean that game is in a "golden era" or that it is even more popular than ever.

[bigredrobbo]

The arguments regarding Bud Selig always remind me of a line from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

 

"All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"