bud selig

Frugal Mets Fit Bud’s Brand of Baseball

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I was watching the Mets-Marlins game last week when retiring commissioner Bud Selig stopped by the Mets’ broadcast booth to chat about the state of the game and, briefly, the state of the Mets. Bud basically repeated his standard spiel about how the game has thrived under his stewardship, how competitive balance is bringing hope to more fans than ever before, and how he has total confidence in his buddies the Wilpons. I’d heard it all before, but in this new context, hearing it while watching the small-budget Mets pitch and hit, it finally dawned on me: Bud is right. By not acting in the best interests of their own fans, the Mets ARE acting in the best interests of Baseball.

It is the Mets and Cubs who allow fans of small market teams to have hope. Not everyone can just buy their way to a title. The Yankees and now the Dodgers get to be the loathed over-spending juggernauts that make even other big spenders look out-classed, and Rays fans won’t grumble about the payroll advantage of the Orioles and Blue Jays.

If ALL the big market teams bought themselves all-star lineups, fans in Miami and Milwaukee might not buy their owners’ promises of contention. Look how attendance declined in Baltimore when Ripken retired and the Yankees and Red Sox were leading the game in payroll dollars and wins every year. But in 2012 the O’s did a few smart things, caught a ton of breaks, were incredibly clutch, and all the fans came back to watch them make the playoffs. All without the team breaking the budget.

This is Selig’s plan for the Wilpons:

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Why Won’t Bud Selig Stop Jeffrey Loria?

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The blockbuster deal in which three-quarters of the Miami Marlins are to be sent to Toronto in return for a bag of balls has yet to be officially approved by MLB. At the moment, commissioner Bud Selig is reviewing the details of the trade. Publicly, he’s saying that he’s considering the “anger” of Marlins fans (both of them!) and what’s best for baseball; his direct comment is, “I am very protective of this sport.”

But is that really what’s weighing on his mind? Or is there something else hanging over his head that bothers him much more about this deal?

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You’re Doing Great, Now Get off the Field

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NOTE: this is a post by Corey Gorey. Please direct your comments to him.

How many days in a row will I wake up, check out the blogosphere, scan the standings, and wish this 162 game baseball season would end? Sure, it’s only July, but Bud Selig is not the boss of me. If I followed my own advice and remembered to forget about the legitimate end date to the 2011 schedule, I would be much happier right now. At many points during the past few months lying to myself would have been a viable alternative to—what do they call it? Reality? Considering how many pundits were certain the Mets would find themselves in the NL East basement from the get-go, I’m nearly satisfied with mediocre. If the season ended today we wouldn’t have won anything—no multi-pronged trophies to encase, flags to hoist, or ostentatious rings to flaunt—but I sure as hell wouldn’t feel like I was squandering any more time or emotion, either. And when it comes right down to it, isn’t the MLB all about me, the fan?

In order to preserve my sanity and the club’s dignity, here are some proposed dates for when this season should have ended:

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MLB Union Not Protesting All Star Game

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With over a quarter of major league baseball being Hispanic, it was thought that some players would sit out the 2011 All Star game due to Arizona’s controversial Immigration Laws. According to Fox Sports, the head of the MLB players union, Michael Weiner, issued a definitive no-protest statement yesterday: “Our nation continues to wrestle with … Read more

Bud Selig Speaks On Mets Finances

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Remember this quote — it is Bud Selig speaking on ESPN Radio: “I feel very comfortable that we are going to have a very reasoned economic solution. … We carefully watch [the Mets’] situation, talk to people every day. They are approaching it the way I would approach it, quite frankly. They are looking to … Read more

Bud Selig’s Double Standard

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What is Bud Selig’s definition of “the best interest of baseball” ?

We know the clause is subjective and can be loosely interpreted depending on the commissioner’s end goal (be it Bud Selig, Bowie Kuhn, Ford Frick, or any other MLB commissioner.). So if we had to guess, what does the term mean today, in Bud Selig’s mind?

I ask because there appears to be some inconsistency with the way Selig is handling the situation in Los Angeles compared to how he is handling a similar case in Flushing. In fact, there seems always to be inconsistency, if you look at what happened in the past in Montreal, Texas, Miami, and Washington DC; there have been books written about that, so I won’t reinvent the wheel here — see the one to the left or anything written by Andrew Zimbalist.

The Dodgers are in a financial mess, as are the Mets. Why is it in baseball’s “best interests” to take over the Dodgers but not the Mets?

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