Several baseball writers examined last week's reports that
acting MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has designs on moving into the
job full-time, a story denied by Selig but thought by most around
the game to be true. In Boston, Peter Gammons writes, "There are
conflicting beliefs on whether Selig could get the votes, but
many owners feel that a new commissioner requires an 18-month
learning curve, that CEO Greg Murphy has filled their marketing
void ... and that Selig is the master of consensus." Still,
Gammons adds, "Bud Selig remains a symbol of the game's dreadful
past. What baseball badly needs is a symbol of its future"
(BOSTON GLOBE, 6/23). In L.A., Ross Newhan writes Selig would
not "bring any pizazz at a time when personality and perception
are critical" (L.A. TIMES, 6/23). In Philadelphia, Jayson Stark
writes that "millions of onetime fans" know Selig as the overseer
of a "nightmarish strike, postseason games they couldn't see, and
an image problem that could rival Saddam Hussein's." One
"baseball person" calls opting for Selig "the diametric opposite
of the signal this sport needs to send out to the world"
(PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/23).
ONE VOTE AGAINST: Padres Owner John Moores: "My strong
preference would be for someone with a sales and marketing
background or somebody who is a poet with a real passion for the
game like George Will. I think there's a deep affection for Bud,
but I'd be hard-pressed to make a case for him" (Ross Newhan,
L.A. TIMES, 6/23).
