MLB Acting Commissioner Bud Selig is interviewed by Jon
Heyman in NEWSDAY. Selig, on his legacy: "[R]evenue
sharing is always the thing I think I'm proudest of, along
with labor peace. Many things come to mind. Three
divisions and a wild card. Interleague play. We're
marketing our game better than ever before. The television
agreement is better than ever. You can go on and on." On
Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner's suit against MLB, which
cited Selig's operation of the Brewers: "He is a friend of
mine. ... Hopefully, we can survive this and go on. But I
did find it sad and found it troubling" (NEWSDAY, 7/11).
TO THE AL? USA TODAY's Hal Bodley reports that D'Backs
Managing General Partner Jerry Colangelo is now considering
realignment to the AL West. Colangelo: "But only if dramatic
and total realignment takes place. If everyone is willing
to be open-minded, realignment could have a dramatic impact
on major league baseball" (USA TODAY, 7/11). In DC, Thomas
Boswell, on possible MLB realignment: "After 100 years of
'Don't Change a Thing,' [MLB's] new motto seems to be
'Everything Goes.' When attendance drops, TV ratings slide
and polls show your game is slipping behind the NFL and NBA,
even slumbering owners awaken. ... In recent years, baseball
has come to understand that, during the regular season, it's
an intensely regional game" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/11).
NO ACCESS FOR YOU! In N.Y., Joel Sherman reports that
Steinbrenner broke MLB rules "and defied the in-person
appeals of AL officials yesterday by closing the Yankee
clubhouse to the media before Hideki Irabu's first start."
Sherman writes that AL President Gene Budig said there would
be no fine "levied" against Steinbrenner (N.Y. POST, 7/11).
