Baseball Musings: Three More Years

January 17, 2008

Three More Years

The owners extended Bug Selig's contract through 2012.

The new pact arrives after more than two years of continued and strident insistence he would retire after his current contract expires in December 2009, a stance that include his telling SportsBusiness Journal in late 2006, "There's not a doubt in my mind that at the end of 2009 I'm retiring," citing in part a steady stream of offers to teach and write his memoirs.

My fear is he'll stay commissioner long enough that someone conquers death and we're stuck with Bud for eternity.

I understand why the owners like Bud. He made them a lot of money. To his credit, he's done a good job of surrounding himself with capable executives. I just have a long time distrust of Bud, and saying he's going to retire then staying on for three more years doesn't make that any better.

Posted by David Pinto at 01:26 PM | Commissioner | TrackBack (0)

Comments

What could he possibly teach?

Posted by: Tom at January 17, 2008 01:40 PM

Let's start the "Bud Selig Does Not Get Into The Hall of Fame" club now.

He will use these 3 extra years to nake people forget the past, his shady deals regarding club sales and contraction, the lying to Congress regarding the disclosure of financial information, the loan(s) that violated MLB policy..

He won't be teaching ethics!

Posted by: rmt at January 17, 2008 01:57 PM

I think one of my biggest problems with Bud is how he he does what is in the Best Interest of Bud's Cronies. He'll do anything to set up his close friends with whatever they want no matter how much it is detrimental to MLB.

Posted by: sabernar at January 17, 2008 02:12 PM

Mr. Selig may have done some bad things for the league and may have embarrassed the league with the steroids issue, but he's also done some very GOOD things for the league.

Can anyone say Wild Card?

He helps out his Owners and has the potential of adding something to the league that would benefit for the rest of its existence-- why not give him an extension? Let him erase the steroid issue from the minds of the voters so he can find himself in the Hall, because he DOES belong there.

Posted by: Jesse R at January 17, 2008 02:20 PM

Bud Selig: Interim Commissioner for Life!

Posted by: RoadRunner at January 17, 2008 02:46 PM

Bud Selig in the Hall? I guess if they can make a mistake and select Bowie Kuhn, they probably will screw up and put the used car salesman in.

What will his plaque say - made everyone a lot of money by practicing financial shenanigans that would put a normal business executive in jail?

You want that in Cooperstown?

Posted by: rmt at January 17, 2008 02:52 PM

lol did you actually claim to be the same height AND weight as David Eckstein on your show last night??

Posted by: joe at January 17, 2008 03:28 PM

Yes I am. Eck is mostly muscle, however, a big difference.

Posted by: David Pinto at January 17, 2008 03:35 PM

I understand why the owners like Bud. He made them a lot of money. That will generally do it.

Posted by: Bandit at January 17, 2008 04:22 PM

The devil you know...

Posted by: SleepyCA at January 17, 2008 05:53 PM

a travesty of a sham... I wonder if Vegas will take a bet that $elig does serve as commish until 2012. Methinks that he will slide out the door when the inevitable heat that is coming under his ass from the growing HGH/Ritalin/etc. debacle in MLB. If he thinks record revenues are the only barometer of success, he's in deep denial about the state of affairs.

Posted by: NYSoxfan at January 17, 2008 06:11 PM

NYSF it's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.

Posted by: geb4000 at January 17, 2008 07:00 PM

Bud Selig has been a fantastic commisioner. To his credit:

-Introduction of the Wild Card
-Revenue sharing
-First Collective Bargaining Agreement in the history of MLB without a strike or lockout
-Record revenue

And this is just off the top of my head. People are quick to criticize Bud, and I believe it is mostly because he is not good in front of the camera. That's a very poor reason.

Posted by: MH at January 17, 2008 07:15 PM

MH finally steps in with some common sense. The game is more popular now than ever, and it is because of Mr. Selig's leadership.

Posted by: Al at January 17, 2008 08:04 PM

-Introduction of the Wild Card
With you on this.
-Revenue sharing
No way. It's lined the Marlins ownership's pockets because they refuse to invest in, errr, their investment while they can make a killing without doing anything but letting other teams spend.
-First Collective Bargaining Agreement in the history of MLB without a strike or lockout
Which led to the steroids scandal, no? Or at least contributed.
-Record revenue
Do we really have Bud to thank for that? It stinks of giving Clinton credit for the internet bubble and surplus of the 90's.

Posted by: Sal Paradise at January 17, 2008 10:54 PM

That's a tidy list, MH, but it ain't rocket science. MLB is behind every other major sport in terms of instituting such a playoff scheme; revenue sharing, especially when the rich teams are getting richer while the poor teams and their fans lose all hope; and last in instituting comprehensive international recognized drug testing procedures. Of course revenue is rising with prices soaring for tickets, concessions, merchandise, MLB Extra Innings... MLB sends attack dogs after Slingbox while at the same time signing a nefarious agreement with DirectTV that would have kept millions of fans in the dark last season. That was until Congress stepped in -- that's leadership? Meanwhile the FBI is investigating Tejada, Bonds is under indictment and Clemens under the microscope. $elig sees success as $6+ bln in revenue. Of course the owners love him -- he was an owner once, he knows how to keep them happy. But the sport's US antitrust exemption will be dangling by a thread until they establish an independent testing agency for HGH, etc. Enough ranting. Less than 30 days till pitchers & catchers... let's play ball.

Posted by: NYSoxfan at January 17, 2008 11:02 PM

"Poor teams lose all hope" is a total canard. The only franchises that haven't made the playoffs recently are teams like Pittsburgh, Florida, Kansas City, and Baltimore. MLB would be fools to lose sleep over that.

"Prices soaring" should tell you something about the state of baseball, but I'll leave it up to you...

Posted by: Ron at January 18, 2008 09:05 AM

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