As MLB Commissioner Bud Selig prepares to step down in January, he is "highly regarded" by team owners for the "job that he did overseeing the game from 1992 to the present, vastly increasing the value of their franchises and producing record annual profits never dreamed of as he took office 22 years ago," according to Richard Griffin of the TORONTO STAR. Even though many fans "remain scarred by the fact of the strike and are still reluctant to forgive Selig for doing something two World Wars could not," there has been "baseball labour peace ever since." With the understanding that Selig can "never be considered the game's greatest, he could still be ranked high" on the list of all-time MLB commissioners. Selig would "rank second overall among the game's nine previous commissioners over 95 years." It is "hard to dis-like Selig when you actually meet him and engage him in conversation," as he has a "huge passion for the game." It "speaks volumes" that Commissioner-elect Rob Manfred "was his right-hand man ... a key member of this commissioner's office for 15 years, respected for his ability to work with the players' union on all matters, including the ever-strengthening of PED testing" (TORONTOSTAR.com, 8/18).
IDEA FOR THE NEW COMMISH: In N.Y., Joel Sherman writes under the header, "How To Make Watching Baseball Fun Again." Sherman: "What is needed -- among other things -- is a better way to captivate fans between pitches. I offer something I hope marries a traditional element of the sport with the modern." Each team should hire "someone who really understands game strategy," then have that person "quickly put up questions on the board and bottom of the TV screen." The telecasts should then "have the poll results instantly update on the board -- and also on the TV scroll, because the questions also go out to viewers." Sherman: "Think of it as a real-time tutorial as you get armed with information that now gets fed to managers to actually make these decisions" (N.Y. POST, 8/19).
