Fresh off of another appearance in front of Congress, in which he was forced to defend himself for doing absolutely nothing as baseball immersed itself in steroids, Bud Selig has been given a contract extension.
He'll now be lording over things through 2012.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig received a three-year extension through 2012 at the owner's meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., today. Selig, 73, appeared before Congress this week to testify about the Mitchell Report, which he authorized to examine the history of steroids in baseball.I guess the feeling here is that Bud was in charge when the mess was made, so now he has to stick around and try to clean it up. I've never exactly been a big fan of Bud, so I cant say that I'm terribly excited by this news. I know that baseball has experienced a huge spike in revenue under Selig, but I'm a fan, not an owner, so none of that means anything to me.
Details of the contract have not been announced. In 2007, Selig was reported to have earned $14 million.
Instead all I see is a commissioner that's bent over backwards to do anything in his power to help owners make money, all the while ignoring the biggest problem in the sport. And don't even get me started on the whole All-Star Game deciding homefield advantage in the World Series.
That decision is on par with Britney Spears' recent choice to have another kid on the intelligence scale.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. That means interleague play lasts at least that long. I hope the next commissioner realizes what a boring waste of time it is outside of the two-team cities, like NY and Chicago. And gets rid of it.
Posted at 3:13PM on Jan 17th 2008 by pedro
2. the man was blind to the bigest scandal since the black sox scandal of 1919 and they extend his contract 3 yrs because he "bent over backwards" to make the owners money. in reality, he "bent over" the fans and the integrity of the game for greedy owners and pompous players. wake up america!
Posted at 3:57PM on Jan 17th 2008 by mcspartan5
3. There are several problems with MLB, the 2 most glaring is Selig and Fehr...both should get out beofre the ruin baseball anymore than it already is.
Posted at 4:58PM on Jan 17th 2008 by Steve
4. I am not a Selig fan. I think interleague play and having the all-star game determine home field advantage were two big mistakes. However, commencing in 1991, Fay Vincent (and in 1997, Selig) both did set forth that steroid use was against the rules of baseball. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/format/memos20051109?memo=1997&num=1
However, these rules could not be effectively enforced because Fehr and the players' union refused to allow testing. (While negotiating the contracts between the players' union and management, management tried to get the players to accept drug testing for many years, and the players, through Fehr and the union, refused to allow testing.) So although I don't care much for Selig, the steroid mess is largely the result of the actions of the players and their union, rather than Selig and baseball management.
Posted at 6:14PM on Jan 17th 2008 by Martin
5. Interleague is alright being a Tiger fan you no its an easy 10 additional wins against the sorry ass national league.Home field should be based on record.I agree with Martin the steriod mess is more the responsibility of the union than it will ever be on Selig.
Posted at 7:16PM on Jan 17th 2008 by pmf
6. still being an avid baseball fan as well as(sorry to say at times)an avid pittsburgh pirates fan,i cannot believe for one second that bud selig would receive an extention of a contract rather than loose his job now.the job that he and the baseball owners have done with the most recent contract has totally ruined the small market.the pirates cannot compete on the same financial levels as many markets and the owners certainly should feel ashamed for their so called baseball gains.selig and fehr should go away and hide with their wealth.i for one would never feel bad if they lost their jobs.i feel bad because i have contributed so much money to their success.
Posted at 10:25PM on Jan 17th 2008 by jack louis schmitt