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Originally Posted by Skahtboi
I'm just curious as to what you have based your opinions on. Personally, I have no real issues with the job Selig has done as commish. Certainly not as much as I had with say, Ford Frick and his *.
Selig has overseen the financial turnaround of baseball with a 400 percent increase in the revenue of MLB and annual record breaking attendance. Look at the state the game was in during the late 80's and early 90's. If for no other reason, his tenure could be termed a "success" because of this. He also introduced the Wild Card, a move that has not only involved more fans being interested in post season play, but has also led to some interesting and exciting stories of post season play. (Case in point both Marlins' WS titles.) Yes, he is more loved by the owners than anyone else involved with the game, largely because of his perspectives as a one time baseball owner himself. And yes, there have been some downsides to his tenure as well, but no more than some others we could name.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skahtboi
By the way, I am just looking at my above post from a historical perspective as far as the game goes, without any concern of "personalities" of various commissioners.
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Until recently, he was the owner of the Brewers. The "ownership" by his daughter was a sham. He was the owner. He and Carl Pohlad collaborated to use MLB money to both enrich Pohlad and contract the Twins. Pohlad viewed this as win-win... either he gets more for the team than he could by selling it to a real buyer, or he succeeds in browbeating local politicians into building him a stadium.
Selig's much ballyhooed financial "success" of MLB was engineered on the backs of chemical abuse by the players, which he turned a blind eye to until he was forced to face up to it (sort of).
As acting commissioner, he presided over the only complete cancellation of the postseason, including the world series, because of the strike of 1994. The strike was long and bitter, brought on by a well-deserved complete distrust of Selig by the player's union... Selig had been caught colluding with owners to rig the signing of free agents. The 1994 strike was forced to end when federal judge Sonia Sotomayor issued a preliminary injunction against the owners on March 31, 1995.
Shall I go on?