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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NUMBER NINE: SELIG UNANIMOUSLY NAMED MLB'S NINTHCOMMISSIONER

          Bud Selig was elected Thursday by a unanimous vote of
     all 30 clubs as MLB's ninth commissioner, "taking the job he
     has held on interim terms for nearly six years," according
     to Tom Haudricourt on the front-page of today's MILWAUKEE
     JOURNAL SENTINEL.  MLB has been without a full-time
     commissioner since September 2, 1992.  Selig's term of
     office will run through 2003, with an annual salary
     "expected" to be $3M.  Selig will step down as President &
     COO of the Brewers and will put his "interests in the club
     in a trust."  Haudricourt writes that after "years of
     steadfastly claiming he had no interest in seeking election
     as commissioner, Selig finally bowed to the relentless
     pressure from his peers to do so."  Another "key" to his
     accepting the post was Paul Beeston's role as MLB COO.  With
     Beeston in New York "conducting baseball's daily business,
     Selig will remain in Milwaukee to work on what he termed
     'more global' affairs."  He will move out of his County
     Stadium office to a downtown space.  Yesterday, a secret
     ballot was "waived" and a roll-call vote of each team was
     taken.  After the unanimous vote, Selig "made it clear" that
     establishing a better working relationship with the players
     is "his No. 1 mission."  Selig: "To me, it's the most
     important thing I have ahead of me: reducing acrimony"
     (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/10).  Selig: "We need to
     reduce anger" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/10).  Selig, on why he
     decided to take the position full-time: "In the end, they
     convinced me it was in the best interest of baseball. 
     That's what I've always been trained to do" (MILWAUKEE
     JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/10).  A MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
     editorial hopes that Selig brings "patience and foresight to
     his new role.  If he does, and if he makes the fans Job One,
     then he will turn the tables on the doubters" (7/10). 
          CONFLICTS? MLB COO Paul Beeston, on what makes Selig
     the right person for the job: "We're two guys who ran clubs. 
     We know what the clubs need, how they feel.  He's got the
     owners' support to act in ways that he feels are best for
     the game.  Ultimately, he will answer to the fans."  In
     Toronto, Richard Griffin writes, "[T]here were powerful men
     in that meeting room [yesterday] who, even though they voted
     for the kinder, gentler Selig, will fight him -- especially
     if it costs them money" (TORONTO STAR, 7/10).  Selig: "If I
     can't make the emotional shift (from owner to commissioner),
     then I should have had the decency to turn the job down"
     (L.A. TIMES, 7/10).  In Dallas, Ken Daley writes that the
     "appearance of conflict" between Selig and his ownership
     ties "will be tough to shake -- no matter how sincere and
     well-intentioned Selig seems to be" (MORNING NEWS, 7/10).
          SMALL MARKET HOPE? ESPN Peter Gammons: "Selig says that
     the only hope of giving the Oaklands and Floridas any chance
     of competing with the Yankees and Braves is not by forcing
     some system on the players, but to find a ground on which 30
     owners and 750 players can share in the responsibility and
     the profits of the business.  Because he is one of them, the
     owners may listen to Selig enough to build consensus that no
     outsider, even [former U.S. Senator] George Mitchell, could
     have.  Whether or not the players will ever trust Selig and
     Paul Beeston is still to be determined.  But if Selig can
     bring players and owners together the one-time automobile
     dealer will be remembered as the man who took baseball out
     of the courtroom and onto the worldwide courtyard"
     ("SportsCenter," 7/9). In NJ, Don Burke writes that Selig
     will "do what he does best: work the phones and build a
     consensus among the owners" (STAR-LEDGER, 7/10).       
          MORE REAX: In DC, Thomas Boswell writes under the
     header, "After All The Wrongs, Selig Could Be Mr. Right"
     (WASHINGTON POST, 7/10).  In Dallas, Ken Daley writes Selig
     "may be vanilla, but at least he has consistency" (DALLAS
     MORNING NEWS, 7/10).  On Long Island, Jon Heyman writes,
     "Selig hasn't done a half-bad job as a baseball man.  For
     him, or for us" (NEWSDAY, 7/10).  But in Jacksonville, Mike
     Bianchi writes that MLB voted itself "a weak, watered-down
     version of a real commissioner" (FL TIMES-UNION, 7/10).  In
     Philadelphia, Bill Conlin writes Selig's "highest priority"
     should be changing the draft.  Conlin: "Commissioner [Scott]
     Boras is an even bigger problem for baseball than
     Commissioner [Donald] Fehr and Commissioner [Richie]
     Phillips" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 7/10).  
          SCHEDULE NEWS: MLB owners voted yesterday to approve a
     '99 schedule "conceptually," but not the details of it. 
     Under the schedule, the interleague segment would pair some
     teams for three-game home-and-home series, including the
     Mets and Yankees.  The AL schedule would be unbalanced for
     the first time since '76 (Murray Chass, N.Y. TIMES, 7/10).
          

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