Bud Selig to retire in 2009

... and only 16 years too late.

Thanks for ruining the Montreal Expos as an organization, Bud.

Thanks for cancelling a World Series, Bud.

Thanks for the pathetic attempt to put value on the All-Star Game.

(Although, good call on Interleauge play)


Story

 

I can hardly even muster a buh-bye.

 

To be fair, Jeffrey Loria deserves most of the blame for moving the Expos. That said, I'll rate his tenure as mixed, as during his stewardship baseball was overtaken by football as our country's sport, and he deserves part of the blame. The Wild Card is great, but last season proved that more realignment is necessary, as I feel two division leagues with two wild cards would not only make the schedule better (the unbalanced one is stupid) but prevent teams situations like the 2005 NL West and 2006 NL Central.

 

Why 2009? Why not now?








~Liar, lawyer, Mirror for ya, What's the difference? Kangaroo be stoned, He's guilty as the government~

 

Can't really say I'm bummed to hear about this.

 

jerry colangelo for commish.

hell, he could do it in different sports.

 

no thanks. I'll pass on Colangelo

 

The obvious choice is Jose Conseco.

 

He's way behind Scott Boras

 

don't let the door smack you to death on the way out Bud.

 

are you sure you meant to include the "don't"?????????

 

I like the Wild Card but can't stand interleague play.
Even in Chicago, I could really care less if the Cubs play the White Sox 6 times a yr, that is what March is for, play the games then.

I like that 2 divison 2 WC idea per league. 3 divisions just doesn't work for me, that is too 80's-90's NFL.

I also think they should cut about 8-12 games from the schd.

Dubya will be the next Commish.
You heard it here first.

 

If W is the next commish, then I really want Selig out now! That would kill two birds with one stone, a new commish (who couldn't be worse than Selig) and a new prez (who couldn't be worse the W, unless Cheney gets it by default....).

I really hate interleague play (I'm a Yankee fan, we have a rival, the Redsox, we don't need a contrived one with the Mets, who I like as much as any other NL team) and would love a balanced schedule again.

 

I agree. And I want Selig out now. I wanted him out 16 years ago. My whole family agrees. The man has ruined MLB. I think Bob Costas would make an awesome commissioner, but it will never happen. It will be another former owner.

 

Boras is behind Pete Rose.

 

Fixed.


Although I will admit if Selig had never been Commish MLB would still probably be America's favorite and most watched sport. 1994 sure did set it back a ways and the steroid issue isn't helping much at all, even though it's probably more prevalent in football.

 

Agreed.

 

It's about time.

Hopefully the next commissioner will have at least somewhat of a heart and let Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame. Here's only a few reasons, besides his 4,256 hits record:

In 1973, the Cincinnati Reds were playing the league championship series with the New York Mets in Shea Stadium. Pete Rose was on first base when a ground ball is hit to the infielder. As was his custom in trying to break up a potential double play, Rose slid into second base extremely hard.

Bud Harrelson, the shortstop, was angered by Rose?s attempt to take him out of the play. Words and insults quickly turned into a baseball melee. The diminutive Mets shortstop was obviously no match for the burly Rose.

When order was restored, Rose returned to his place in the outfield. The New York partisans showered him with beer cans and anything else they could throw on the playing surface. When a whiskey bottle sailed by his head, they cleared the field while order was restored.

The next day, the Reds were trailing 2 games to 1. Another loss would end the season for Pete Rose and the Reds. The game was tied 1-1 in the top of the twelfth inning. An unrepentant Rose came to the plate and was booed relentlessly by the New York fans. Undaunted, Rose smacked a pitch over the right field wall to put his team in the lead. As he circled the bases, Rose defiantly pumped his fist in the air to the jeers of the crowd.

---

In 1970, baseball?s All-Star game came to Cincinnati?s recently completed Riverfront Stadium. Even President Nixon was in the crowd to watch the two leagues do battle. Like all great sports warriors, Pete Rose wanted to do well in front of the hometown crowd. The game was tied 4-4 in the bottom of the twelfth inning. With two men out, Rose singled to center. He moved to second on a hit by Billy Grabarkewitz. Then Jim Hickman came to the plate. Hickman singled to center and Rose refused to stop on third base. With third base coach Leo Durocher waving him in, Rose furiously rounded third.

As catcher Ray Fosse blocked the plate, the baseball and Pete Rose arrived at the same time. Like a football player headed for the end zone, Rose dropped his left shoulder, and bowled over the Cleveland catcher. In one of the truly finest moments in sport, Rose?s collision scored the winning run for the National League! His desire to win was so great that he would risk his career to win an exhibition game.

[hr]

In 1967, the National League won the All-Star on a homerun by Cincinnati?s Tony Perez in the bottom of the 15th inning. That was back in the days when the outcome of the games mattered to the players, coaches, and the commissioner. Although he was selected to the ?67 team, Rose never played in the game. And that is the remarkable thing about Pete Rose and his approach to the sport.

As the game stretched into extra innings, National League manager Walt Alston was suffering from a lack of position players. The Dodgers? legendary skipper asked the all-stars still on the bench if anyone had any catching experience. Rose, who hadn?t caught a game since his days on the sandlot, immediately stepped forward to volunteer. When Perez?s game winning homer sailed out of Anaheim Stadium, the 1963 Rookie of the Year at second base, and all-star outfielder, was getting ready to enter the game in catcher?s gear.

[hr]

These three incidents are indicative of Pete Rose?s storied career and only a sample of why his plaque should forever hang from baseball's greatest shrine. And baseball's going to ignore all of this because he gambled? Please. Pete Rose didn't tarnish the game of baseball, the decision to ban him from the game did.

 

The least Rose can do is cut down on his casino appearances. You know, just to look legitimate. .

 

Well, Bush will be out of a job by then...

 

I will never come down on Pete Rose for what he did on the baseball diamond. He played hard, and he was a very good hitter. He bet on baseball as a manager which is a slippery slope towards fixing the games. It wasn't Selig's call to ban Rose permanently but rather the previous Commish. I do know that several high profile Hall of Famers have come out and said that if Pete Rose is put into the HOF, they would want out of it themselves. One who has been very vocal is Bob Feller, who is a pretty big profile name as far as the Hall of Fame goes.


That having been said, I don't think he'd ever get voted into the HOF. It's very difficult to get into in the first place, and they already think that McGwire is going to have a tough time garnering the 5% needed just to appear on future ballots. McGwire was never proven to have done anything wrong. Here we have a caught cheater in Pete Rose and people want to put him into the HOF? Where are our priorities when it comes to the integrity of the game?