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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