Reactions continue to roll in on MLB Commissioner Emeritus BUD SELIG's election into the Baseball HOF, with MLB Network's Matt Vasgersian noting Selig was a "slam dunk Cooperstown enshrinement" due to his "undeniable impact" on the game. MLB Network's Brian Kenny said Selig "ushered the game into an era of unprecedented growth and innovation." Baseball columnist Bill Madden said when talking about Selig, "you have to start at the beginning for him, which was saving baseball" in Milwaukee. Madden: "His biggest accomplishment was revenue-sharing ... and as a result look at the parity that we have during the era of Bud Selig" ("Hot Stove," MLB Network, 12/5). MLB Network's Chris Russo said, "Here's the bottom line: Revenue sharing, small markets, divisional, wild card, getting the owners to get along, labor peace, hiring (ROB) MANFRED. It's funny about Bud -- if you ask the average fan about Bud Selig, they’re going to think about the All-Star Game in ‘02 and the whole thing. ... This man quietly was a tremendous, tremendous commissioner who inside the game got something together" ("High Heat," MLB Network, 12/5). In Boston, Dan Shaughnessy writes the "totality of his 23 years as commissioner amounts to far more positive than negative." Shaughnessy: "Selig is always going to be associated with the Steroid Era of baseball. Fair enough." However, the record "needs to reflect" that it was former MLBPA Exec Dir DONALD FEHR and the union that "stood in the way of serious drug testing" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/6). MLB Historian John Thorn said, "Those people who slammed Bud for the things that went wrong in his tenure are unwilling to chalk up the accomplishments of his tenure" ("MLB Now," MLB Network, 12/5).
WHAT ABOUT THE JUICE? SPORTSNET.ca's Jeff Blair wrote the balance sheet is "remarkably favourable for Selig, at least from a baseball point of view: expanded playoffs, an early embracing of new media, new stadiums, labour peace, competitive balance and franchise stability have been a hallmark of the game’s last two decades." However, there also is "something about Selig’s election that doesn’t sit right with a lot of us." It is "odd that the same committee that has chosen to overlook his complicity in the game’s steroid era ... appeared to give short shrift" to MARK MCGWIRE’s candidacy on the same ballot (SPORTSNET.ca, 12/5). The AP's Jim Litke writes the "same outsized contributions" that earned Selig entry into the HOF "should crack open the door wide enough for stars from the super-sized era to squeeze in behind him" (AP, 12/6). In Chicago, Barry Rozner writes under the header, "Selig In The Hall Of Fame Is Just Wrong." Selig was "profiting more from steroid use than any other person in baseball, aside from a few players." In the "final years of his reign, Selig went to great lengths to create an image as the Steroids Sheriff." Presiding over the "worst scandal in baseball history ... will always be Selig's legacy" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 12/6).
HONORING A TRAILBLAZER: CLAIRE SMITH, the first female to cover a MLB beat extensively and an influential voice among African-American writers, was elected the ‘17 winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award. Smith becomes the first female winner of the award since it was first given out in ’62. Smith currently is ESPN News Editor of Remote Productions and previously worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer, N.Y. Times and Hartford Courant (Baseball HOF). MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch writes Smith "broke barriers so girls like me could dream of covering baseball." Philadelphia Inquirer's Molly Eichel: "As a kid, despite not liking sports, I read @MzCSmith because she was a woman on the sports page." Dallas Morning News Gerry Fraley: "A well-deserved honor for a trail-blazer in the business and a wonderful human being." Mariners TV broadcaster Dave Sims: "One of the greatest people we have in MLB. I am thrilled for my friend." Forbes' Maury Brown: "It's a great day when the Baseball Hall of Fame finally has a female writer in its midst." N.Y. Daily News' John Harper: "Congrats to Claire Smith, great person and journalist, on groundbreaking HOF honor." Chicago-based WBEZ-FM's Cheryl Raye Stout: "Her dignity and grace is unmatched" (TWITTER.com, 12/6).
