COMMENTARY : WHAT'S BUD GOT TO DO WITH IT? PLENTY.Byline: Jim Litke Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. It's such a good idea no one will believe I came up with it: Bud Selig Allan Huber "Bud" Selig, Jr. (born July 30, 1934 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is the Commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was previously the team owner and administrator of the Milwaukee Brewers. for commissioner of baseball The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball.[1] Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. . The first time people hear the suggestion, they laugh. And laugh and laugh. And then, still holding their sides an hour later, they ask some probing questions. ``Isn't that the guy who looks like Wally Cox Wallace Maynard Cox (December 6, 1924 – February 15, 1973) was a television and motion picture actor. Biography Cox was born in Detroit, Michigan. He moved with his divorced mother, mystery author Eleanor Atkinson and a younger sister to Evanston, Illinois, when he ? Hasn't he been acting commissioner the last four years? Hasn't that been as disastrous a stretch as baseball has ever endured?'' In order: yes, yes and yes. Attendance dropped 15 percent, TV ratings for the World Series dropped 18 percent and the owners dropped a bundle - about $800 million in operating losses operating loss The excess of operating expenses over revenue. As with operating income, operating losses exclude revenues and expenses from operations that are not considered a regular part of the business. Also called deficit. Compare operating income. - on Selig's watch. The only thing that kind of leadership has locked up for Selig so far is the revenge-minded vote. He gets that hands down. People who want to see major league baseball "MLB" and "Major Leagues" redirect here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation) and Major Leagues (disambiguation). Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. suffer even further are sure that four more years of Bud will leave the game as popular as model airplane-building. And they might be right. But the rest of us want Bud for a different reason. We want baseball restored, if not to its former glory - an impossible task - then at least to the point where enough kids are interested as players and spectators to keep it out of the ``Extreme Games.'' And now that a labor agreement is set, and the owners and players' union honchos will go back to doing what they do best - pulling the wings off flies - that modest ambition can be realized. Even with Bud in charge. Maybe especially with Bud in charge. The search for a permanent commissioner is under way. All Selig has to do to become eligible is sell his portion of the Milwaukee Brewers. That would resolve the conflict of interest that now has him working two jobs - and giving a halfhearted half·heart·ed adj. Exhibiting or feeling little interest, enthusiasm, or heart; uninspired: a halfhearted attempt at writing a novel. effort to each. In those few days between the owners' rejection of the labor deal and their acceptance, Selig mustered the leadership and courage a commissioner needs. Those qualities were present long ago, both in Selig's character and the job description, but until recently never glimpsed anywhere near him. Getting a labor agreement was not easy. And while all 30 owners are reputed reputed adj. referring to what is accepted by general public belief, whether or not correct. to be shrewd captains of industry, the truth is only a handful ever did their homework on that subject. Reinsdorf was one. Selig was another. That's why so long as they remained united, controlling the rest of the crowd was easy. Then Reinsdorf decided he was tired of fighting to keep everybody else in line. So he peeled off, signed Albert Belle Soon after, Selig's better instincts took over. And last week, he gave real resonance to that phrase he invoked a hundred times before, each time more cynically than the previous one. He actually thought about what was best for baseball. Then he set out to accomplish it. He claimed the job of commissioner that day. It should be his to lose. If that argument doesn't work for you, how about this? Bud made the mess. Let him clean it up. |
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