Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Five things that Bud Selig broke that I wouldn't have broken

I've never been a fan of Bud Selig and have always thought that his reign as commissioner was a disaster despite what many in the baseball media have to say.
My list ended at eight, but I wanted to keep it light-much like Bud Selig's reign.
Here are my top five things that Bud Selig botched that I would fix, but first this does not include problems that were in existence before Selig took over such as the designated hitter.
I have opinions on more baseball items that need decisive fixing, but I'll stick to Bud for tonight as the snow falls in the Hub City.

1) The minor league draft.
A few years back, there was a movement among some of the leagues lesser lights like the Pirates and Royals to name two to spend lots of money in the amateur draft in an attempt to balance the system that keeps them from competing for the best free agents.
Selig instituted a "Cap" to keep teams from spending freely for the amateur draft by assigned each team a specific amount that they could spend on the draft and if they exceeded that, a team would pay a "tax" for overspending.
I find it ironic that the man that had no problems with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers outspending on veteran talent every year by tens of millions, felt compelled to limit spending by the Pittsburghs, Houstons, and Minnesotas of the league.
If there was a salary cap in place, I would be able to live with this system.
Instead, it smacks of hypocrisy and pandering to the larger markets...

2) Interleague Play
Several of the items considered for this list are somehow related to this one.
I just plain dislike this.
I understand the theory of fans in certain cities never getting to see the stars of the other league, but in an age that you can see any game that you want if you have the desire, that really isn't such a big deal.
Many of the issues that bug me could have been fixed or never been a problem, to begin with, had Selig not rammed this through.
This also ruined the special aspect of the All-Star game, which has seen ratings consistently drop since this decision.
I wouldn't have a problem with certain teams with an interleague weekend each year, but other than that-yuck...

3) PED's
Selig had to know that something was going on and refused to do anything as guys like Shawn Green went from 15 homers to 45+ among many.
Selig allowed drug users to prosper rather than be punished and as a result, watch the game's history and record book get trampled.
This gave fans a bad taste on the game, destroyed past numbers, and made players from other times stats look weaker and hurt Hall of Fame chances.
A stain of the game that all the positive P.R. over time cannot erase...

4) Houston
No, I'm not talking about Dean Martin's hit-I'm commenting on Selig's heavy-handed treatment of the Astros as in forcing new ownership to agree to a move to the American League or their purchase of the team would not be approved.
This led to interleague play every day of the season (yuck), but one of the reasons given was now Texas fans can have their Astros-Rangers rivalry but wasn't one of the pushed reasons for interleague play was for series like Astros-Rangers to be played?
To throw 51 years of history in the National League away just for that reason was dumb and I'll bet that one day, someone in baseball will bemoan the lack of a National League presence in Texas-blame Bud.....

5) 1994
Selig playing hardball and allowing the labor issues in 1994 resulted in the World Series being canceled and the game's history now has a hole that cannot be filled.
Selig could have guided things along and had all winter to fix the problem,instead, he used poor leadership and allowed the worst-case scenario to occur.
This essentially greased the skids for the end of baseball in Montreal...

Dishonorable Mentions
Montreal: Kissing the rump of noted con-man Jeffrey Loria rather than concerns about the fans of the Expos resulted in Canada losing Major League Baseball and Loria being allowed to scamper to Florida where he runs the Marlins to this day to mixed results.

Wild Card: I don't like the Wild Card period, but I really hate the second Wild Card.
The amount of champions that came out of the wild card cheapens the title and that comes from a Giants fan that has seen that team prosper under the system.

All-Star Game; Mentioned above, but the silly "now it counts" to determine the home field for the World Series is a terrible way to decide who gets the advantage in the post-season. 

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