MLB Commissioner Bud Selig yesterday "came out swinging" on behalf of the Ricketts family, which owns the Cubs, who he believes is "being treated unfairly by the Chicago media in their battle with rooftop owners," according to Paul Sullivan of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Selig said he will do "whatever is legally" possible to help the Cubs get their $300M Wrigley Field renovation plan underway. Selig: “That’s how strongly I feel about preserving Wrigley Field. You can’t ask a team to be competitive and you can’t ask people to do things and then tie their hands and their legs. It’s just wrong. Somebody has to say it’s wrong, and I’m going to say it.” He added, “This is a team trying to stay in this historic setting in a really tough economic environment, trying to modernize without disturbing the tradition, trying to build a competitive baseball team. ... They’re doing it. But you can’t impose conditions on them that nobody else has, because nobody else has those (conditions).” But Sullivan asked, "Didn't the Cubs agree to those conditions in the 2004 contract?" Selig replied, “Well, this ownership didn’t. They’re willing to do whatever their contract says. But I feel very strongly about that.” Selig said, "I think they’ve been unfairly criticized in so many ways. ... No doubt if they wanted to go somewhere else they could’ve made a better economic deal. They haven’t. And they won’t, and they’re going to fight their way through it.” He added, "I think the Cubs are in very good ownership hands. Couldn’t be better. They’ve been great baseball people" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/24). Selig, when pressed on who is treating the Ricketts unfairly, said, "Without portraying it in great detail I look out and see a lot of things out over the wall, so that's all I'll say" (ESPNCHICAGO.com, 4/23).
A BUDDING PROBLEM: The CHICAGO TRIBUNE's Sullivan writes there "really is little Selig can do unless he can get the city to declare eminent domain and tear down the buildings on Waveland and Sheffield avenues." Otherwise, he "has no say in this legal tussle." The "battle between the Cubs and the rooftop owners is all about money, and until the Cubs agree on some kind of financial settlement, they probably will have the threat of a lawsuit hanging over their heads" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/24). In Chicago, Gordon Wittenmyer writes what has "become clear with every year of delays and baseball budget cuts under this ownership is that the finances are strained." The owners are "not the victims -- unlike their weary fan base." Selig was "nowhere to be seen by the time" yesterday's game had ended. Wittenmyer: "Never mind that what Selig rails against is a contract negotiated and signed by the Cubs -- who are now trying to get around some of the terms to erect revenue-producing signs and video boards in the outfield" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/24).
SLAMMING THE DOOR SHUT: SI.com's Jay Jaffe wrote given former MLBer Sammy Sosa's "resumé and the lengthy list of indelible moments" he left at Wrigley Field, Sosa "deserved to be" among a group of former Cubs players on hand yesterday to celebrate Wrigley's 100th anniversary. Jaffe: "Of course, it’s not difficult to see why the Cubs would be hesitant to include him." But "warts and all, Sosa deserved to be at that centennial celebration" (SI.com, 4/23).
