Newly-named MLB President & COO Paul Beeston was
featured in much of the league's weekend coverage. Beeston
was a guest on "MLB on Fox" on Saturday and discussed
realignment. On the complete overhaul of the league
currently being discussed, Beeston said, "Maybe we shouldn't
use a band-aid approach and radically change the format"
("MLB on Fox," 7/26). Beeston was also interviewed by
ESPN's Jack Edwards on Sunday's "SportsWeekly" (ESPN, 7/27).
AROUND THE HORN: In Philadelphia, Jayson Stark called
Beeston's appointment "one of the best, and most underrated
things, baseball has done in years" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER,
7/27). In Chicago, Jerome Holtzman: "Beeston's move into
the top echelon is certain to strengthen baseball and also
improve morale in the New York office" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE,
7/27). In Toronto, Dave Perkins: "All sides figure if there
is going to be mutually acceptable labor peace in the long
term ... then Beeston is the man who will broker it. And if
he can't, then no one will" (TORONTO STAR, 7/26). In
Hartford, Paul Doyle wrote MLB is "showing signs of
progress," as Beeston's appointment "was the best move in a
long time" (HARTFORD COURANT, 7/27). But in San Jose,
Michael Martinez wrote that Beeston's position "isn't likely
to be much more than that of a ceremonial head, and without
an autonomous commissioner the game will keep paddling
aimlessly" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 7/27). In Milwaukee,
Dale Hofmann wrote MLB needs "a commissioner, not a
courtship, and the sooner it takes [Acting Commissioner Bud]
Selig at his word and hires somebody who wants the job the
better." Hofmann, on Selig's constant denials that he is
interested in being named full-time commissioner: "When you
say 'no' continuously for five years, you either mean it or
you have a speech impediment" (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/27).
NOTE: In Sunday's N.Y. TIMES, Peter Golenbock wrote on
former MLB players from the '30's and '40's who don't
receive an MLB pension: "Will baseball act with due speed,
do what's right and make the game proud, or will it continue
on its self-destructive, foolish path? We'll be waiting
impatiently for baseball's answer" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/27).
