In a sad era when we are left to blame the players for what is happening to our national pastime, it is becoming all too apparent that the foolhardy strings which have threatened to destroy the grand old game in the past decade are pulled from behind the scenes by a man who is ill fit and unequipped to commish the sport because it would seem that he has his own private agenda and not the best interests of baseball at heart.
If indeed, Bud Selig is partly responsible for the juiced baseballs that mysteriously popped up after the '94 strike, what can we expect next if we have another work stoppage? Cheerleaders where the 1st and 3rd base coaches or on-deck circles used to be? Aside from poor taste, the man virtually has "conflict of interest" embroidered or tatooed on his being. He is a character straight out of a Dickens novel, a rogue no more adept or qualified to lead MLB than a mobster who hides his black hat and evil ways as a badge of false honor for all but the purists to ponder.
Not only is it evident that Buddy has used his power to help his own Brewers switch leagues and invites contraction to get rid of local market competition. It is alledged that he aids owner friends to hide the true market value of teams with phantom operating losses or helps doctor the books to inflate the selling price in the event of a sale. He is said to have even been intimately involved in the sale of the Boston Red Sox, flushing out all local bidders despite better offers.
It's safe to say that he is Bill Gates times 10, a living, breathing, walking monopoly. And he must be stopped before baseball dies a fan death on his watch. No one man should be bigger than the game. And yet Selig has so compromised the integrity of baseball, that he acts like a henhouse fox who is invisible and impervious to detection. But if Uncle Sam is watching, then the government must step in to end his rude reign and sick stanglehold on MLB.
In his case, he is a self-serving rep of ownership who choose to look the other way rather than fess up on the unscrupulous shortcomings of one of their own. So it may well be time to call the proper authorities on the guy. For it would appear that he dabbles in the same white collar criminality that execs at Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia may face 10 years in the pokey for. So why is Buddy left to destroy the game and go scott free? Sure, there's no crying in baseball. But is there no justice as well?
Hopefully, our pastime is still a game first and a business second. And so baseball need not be run by pencil neck geeks in suits whose sole interest is money and couldn't play any sport if their lives depended on it. Before I thought a strike might ruin the game. Unfortunately, it's already been ruined by Mr. Selig. Now the sole purpose of a strike is to get rid of him. If the players don't strike, then they are giving the thumbs up to a crooked and corrupt commissioner whose actions make Pete Rose's gambling trivial by comparision.
Right now poor Bart Giamatti is rolling in his grave. For there is no poetry to philosophize what Selig has done to the game in proper context. Only juiced balls, bodies and bats, empty seats, stadiums and records. If we as fans think that our love of baseball will survive the worst laid plans of evil money men in suits who control the sport, then we got another thing coming. I'd rather sacrifice another scapped Fall Classic than see baseball remain a puppet of big bad business. Buddy's been had. And he has to go.
» Hank Festa is a freelance writer who lives in Los Angeles.
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Copyright © 2002 by Hank Festa. Posted August 9, 2002.
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