Selig Tenure

[Astro]

Has Bud Selig's tenure as commissioner, so far, been a success, failure or disappointment?

[1995hoo]

I think it's too early to say "failure." I voted for "disappointment," but even there I'm a bit torn because I never expected him to be competent in the first place!

[Bluesteve32]

I'd say a dissappointment so far, but could easily fall into failure as any moment.

[Astro]

Personally I think its too early to tell... While Selig has done some dumb things, such as making the All-Star game winner have home field advantage, he also was the first commish to agree on terms with players and owners to prevent a strike/lock out... and the tie in the all-star game doesnt really bother me either, I know if I were a fan of the team whos pitchers would of been forced to pitch 4 or 5 innings, then one of them got hurt, I would of been very angry

[Sam]

I was angry about it, but the All-Star Game fiasco doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, unless you paid for a ticket that is. Selig's legacy will be the wild card. Say what you will about the decade of it's innaguration, but the wild card concept being applied to baseball was brilliant. A league with as many teams as the MLB needed more playoff spots, because so many teams were out of contention early on. I don't like how he handles labor, but implementing the Wild Card was great.

[trosmok]

Personally I think its too early to tell..., he also was the first commish to agree on terms with players and owners to prevent a strike/lock out...

Whoa! What? Bug Selig was the Commissioner in 1994 who set the deadline of Sept. 9 to cancel the remainder of the season, effectively locking out MLB players, and you don't remember this? He was still the owner of the Brewers and borrowed (against MLB rules) a boatload of money from Pohlad to stay afloat. Gad, how short people's memories are; don't you recall his contraction threats that were designed to profit his and one other owner's teams? Have you no recollection of his conspiratorial efforts that resulted in the demise of MLB in Montreal? Doesn't anyone else know he couldn't compete with Minnesota in the AL, so he had the Brewers jump leagues? The current abomination of interleague play was whelped during his tenure, as well as the forementioned All-Star lunacy. His leadership is akin to a legless sheep and his unmitigated disregard for the spirit of the sport is unprecedented. He is, and always will be, the owners' puppet, and his legacy is likely to be known as the steroid commish. Yet, some people don't see him as an imbecilic failure? Does that make success the ability to walk and chew gum without falling down more than twice in ten steps? :noidea

[julusnc]

Whoa! What? Bug Selig was the Commissioner in 1994 who set the deadline of Sept. 9 to cancel the remainder of the season, effectively locking out MLB players, and you don't remember this? He was still the owner of the Brewers and borrowed (against MLB rules) a boatload of money from Pohlad to stay afloat. Gad, how short people's memories are; don't you recall his contraction threats that were designed to profit his and one other owner's teams? Have you no recollection of his conspiratorial efforts that resulted in the demise of MLB in Montreal? Doesn't anyone else know he couldn't compete with Minnesota in the AL, so he had the Brewers jump leagues? The current abomination of interleague play was whelped during his tenure, as well as the forementioned All-Star lunacy. His leadership is akin to a legless sheep and his unmitigated disregard for the spirit of the sport is unprecedented. He is, and always will be, the owners' puppet, and his legacy is likely to be known as the steroid commish. Yet, some people don't see him as an imbecilic failure? Does that make success the ability to walk and chew gum without falling down more than twice in ten steps? :noidea

I agree with you but you also forgot he was up for tax evasion in the 1970's because of his used car dealerships.....No one can say how much money he has screwed Major League Baseball, The city of Milwaukee, The state of Wisconsin, and the American People out of.

[Astro]

I dont care what Selig did as an owner, I'm talking about as a commish... he has done some dumb stuff, but he has did somethings right so to call him a complete failure isnt very fair, IMO anyway

[trosmok]

Yup, he was well known around Milwaukee as an unsuccessful used car dealer, if you can imagine such a thing. (Kind of like an honest politician) His whining about how dire the financial straits major league ballclubs were three years ago leads one to believe there really are at least two sets of books, and some rather creative bookeeping going on to this day in Bug's office. The worst of it is that Selig actually thinks he is doing a great job of stewarding our sport. Like my late hero Dr. M.L. King once said: "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." :cool:

[trosmok]

I dont care what Selig did as an owner, I'm talking about as a commish... he has done some dumb stuff, but he has did somethings right so to call him a complete failure isnt very fair, IMO anyway

OK, name one thing "he has did somethings right.." (sic)

[Astro]

Prevented a player strike

[pads4ever]

I want to respond in this thread but just can't seem to gather all my loose thoughts on this man. For now, I'll just say this.......

[wamby]

Disappointment and well on his way to failure.

[Monarchs29]

TOO EARLY TO TELL?????

Bud the Slug has had 12 YEARS to prove himself.

IMHO, over those 12 years Selig have been nothing but a blight on MLB!

Let's see, player lockout, Expos conspiracy, all-star game fiasco, that brilliant idea of having the Expos play games in PR. His "deal " with Lyin' Loria re Marlins. Moving the Expos without a new owner.

Yes, folks, the hits just keep on comin'!

One can only hope the rest of his tenure, (does it really go until 2009?) will go by very quickly without him making anymore assinine decisions.

Oh, and by the way. Very well put, trosmok

[moviegeekjan]

Torn between disappointment and failure, but I expected him to be as incompetent and act like the owner's puppet pretty much the way he's demonstrated...so edge goes to failure

[Knick9]

BUD SELIG and his new album "Relocation"



Check out his smash hits listed below:

-Relocation
-Barry Bonds didn't do it!
-Pampering Boston and Bronx
-The Tampa Bay disaster
and -The Bud Selig Remix

...So you pretty much know where I'm headed with this. G-d forgive me but :grouchy . Bud is a complete failure and has failed so much to even have any credibility and has failed so much that he can't dig himself out of this mess. 12 years worth of failure and counting. Man, I wish we could impeach him.

[VTSoxFan]

Great kudos to Trosmok for his excoriating summation of the Slug's tenure. :clapping

I remember a long time ago someone came up with the idea that SELIG is an acronym for:

Something
Evil
Lurks
In (the)
Game

That pretty much says it, I think.

If nothing else, his crooked conflict-of-interest delaings with Pohlad should have gotten him the heave-ho a long time ago. If there was any justice in this world he would have been back at his old job of turning back odometers and pasting foil over rusty chrome years ago. Something interesting to look up is how he wangled public funding for his leaky ballpark in Milwaukee. What a shame that the Brewers as a team are besmirched by their association with this rat.

[west coast orange and black]

failure? not at this point of his tenure.
but i am very disppointed that television has the grand game by the bag of peanuts and crackerjack.
baseball can not sneeze without television's approval.

[pads4ever]

I remember a long time ago someone came up with the idea that SELIG is an acronym for:

Something
Evil
Lurks
In (the)
Game

That pretty much says it, I think.

S-E-L-I-G is also G-I-L-E-S spelled backwards........ :eek:

[efin98]

He is not a failure. He is not a success. He is mediocre at best, a bumbler at worst.

He gets too much blame from folks not willing to put the blame on those who are actually responsible: the players and union for the imminant strike in 1994, the managers of the "tied" all star game, the owners of the teams not wanting to lose more games against better teams via folding the Montreal franchise...I could go on and on.

[Astro]

Figured I'd dust this topic off, some new people may wish to comment on it

[runningshoes]

Not only is he a failure; he's a miserable failure.

[trosmok]

Thanks, Astro. Just what the old ticker needed today.:D

Hard to understand why the office of the puppet Commissoner is dragging his buster browns, again, and quite publicly making a fool of himself, again. Perhaps he realizes his entire bumbling tenure is being reflected by his latest inaction, or that he's obsessed with how his legacy will be interpreted in the future. He is really in a no win situation this time; no matter what he does to Bonds, or does nothing at all, he'll be villified. If he had any redeeming leadership qualities at all, I might find a little sympathy for Bud, but I kind of like seeing him twist in the wind for a while this go round.:o

[KCGHOST]

Selig did not lockout the players in 1994. They went on strike. All Selig got to do was set a date that meant there wouldn't be a post-season. What was he supposed to do, just sit there and let the days go by??

The ASG fiasco was not his fault. That was Torre and Brenly mismanaging their pitching staffs. Then they went whining to Bud. Do you think you would have made a better on the spot decison?? Not a chance.

I suspect that if you take a look at Selig through his employers eyes he gets pretty highs marks. He has gotten a number of new stadiums built at no expense to them, inter-league play is wildly popular with fans and media alike (purists hat it if course), he has had labor peace for 12 years, he has gotten a form of revenue sharing going, he got a luxury tax implemented, he got a steroid drug policy implemented (yes he had to use the congressional hammer to do it but he got one), attendance continues to rise, etc. The list goes on. If you are an MLB owner you have to be pretty happy with Bud.

Sure they wish he would be a little smoother with the media and the public, but he does work for a consensus and doesn't strike out on his own hook as if he is Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Why the hell do you think Fay Vincent is unemployed??

I think all you Bud Bashers out to go to work tomorrow with the ongoing attitude of "screw the boss, I'm going to what the public wants me to do". A little reality would do you good. The fact you don't like him or some/many/all of the thing he does does not make him a disappointment or a failure except to you.

[Brownie31]

Total failure! The steroids scandal is worse than the Black Sox scandal and like the Black Sox scandal was ignored by the greedy and stupid establishment until it broke. Baseball needs a strong and independent commissioner with broad powers-General Colin Powell! Brownie31

[rockin500]

OK, name one thing "he has did somethings right.." (sic)
wild card.

[burger eater]

Baseball needs a strong and independent commissioner with broad powers-General Colin Powell!

Commissioner for life:

[Brian McKenna]

baseball needs a businessman as a leader who has a healthy knowledge and respect for marketing - baseball needs to make itself young and hip - basketball rose by touting individual players like jordan and shaq - baseball needs to expose the personalities and capture the younger crowd - a former general and politician isn't going to do any of that

[brewcrew82]

The ASG fiasco was not his fault. That was Torre and Brenly mismanaging their pitching staffs. Then they went whining to Bud. Do you think you would have made a better on the spot decison?? Not a chance.


Agreed with the above point, and its a little early to call him a failure when it comes to steroids (that will need to wait another couple of years, to then see how many positive tests we find comparable to now).

There are two major blights on his record in my eyes. Firstly the handling of the Expos situation, and secondly, the implementation of interleague play (I know a lot of people like it, so maybe I'm wrong on this on, but THAT is highly unlikely).

[brewcrew82]

Commissioner for life:


You want "the Weasel" as our commissioner? :eek:

[Let Shoeless In]

I am appalled that people are actually standing up for this clown, while he drives the game i love into the ground. I am positive he will continue to bumble the rest of the steriods issue since it is clear the man has no spine. I wish we could have a real voice to g et him out of his seat. I voted FAILURE and i cringe at the site of this woman.

[RedSoxVT92]

Bud selig is a total faliure. This guy has done more bad for the game of baseball than good. Under his leadership baseball has been tainted by steroids and such. If only he had the guts to really lay the hammer down. Establishing inter-league play is all fine and dandy but he really has done nothing but hurt baseball and its reputation.

[TheKingofKings]

I'd say a dissappointment so far, but could easily fall into failure as any moment.

Come on man , he made a anti-drug policy something other professional sports leagues haven't done and that rule has caught quite a number of cheaters.

[RedSoxVT92]

Come on man , he made a anti-drug policy something other professional sports leagues haven't done and that rule has caught quite a number of cheaters.

Bud ignored the steroid problems of baseball for along time. And he didnt give harsher penalties for steroids until recentally (Probably because of pressure from the media and others). Also by what I know all major pro sport leaugues have a drug policy. And the testing for perfomance enhancing drugs in baseball is still a joke compared to the other pro sport leaugues.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Expos
Loria
Samson
Marlins

:grouchy :grouchy :grouchy :mad: :mad: :evil

[vasprtsfn]

He has done some good, like the interleague play, avoiding a work stoppage for the first time in history, and allowing the return of baseball to Washington. Also, he has been tougher on the steroids issue than the players ever will be.

[trosmok]

Selig did not lockout the players in 1994. They went on strike.
To me, that constitutes a lockout; if you know diddle about job actions, what Bud did is defined as locking out the union, when they were not allowed to even negotiate a return.

The ASG fiasco was not his fault. That was Torre and Brenly mismanaging their pitching staffs. Then they went whining to Bud. Do you think you would have made a better on the spot decison?? Not a chance.
Actually, there would be a very good chance; while that debacle was unfolding, I was thinking "Allow re-entry, or make the damn managers pitch. They wear the uniform, make them finish it."


If you are an MLB owner you have to be pretty happy with Bud.

I think all you Bud Bashers out to go to work tomorrow with the ongoing attitude of "screw the boss, I'm going to what the public wants me to do". A little reality would do you good.

Um, I work for the public, so if the elected official tries to implement actions detrimental to the people, I will work against him in my usual diplomatic way.

Like my buddy Martin said: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupitdity." Bud Selig is an unmitigated and total failure, not to mention a danger to our beloved game.