Thursday, August 19, 2004
Why do they like Selig?
Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, signed a contract extension today. This more or less guarantees that Selig will be the commissioner until 2009.
A bunch of interesting things have happened in baseball while Selig has been the commissioner, including the strike of 1995, interleague play, the wild card playoff, the avoided strike of 2002, the luxury tax, and revenue sharing.
I guess the owners see things improving from their perspective. After all, more people seem to be interested, people go to the games in most cities, owners feel more competitive with revenue sharing, and such.
The thing is, out of all the major sports, baseball owners get bitched the most by their union. Once this hockey strike happens this season, baseball will be the only sport without a salary cap, which is ludicrous. I happen to be a Yankee fan, but even I can recognize the need for a salary cap in baseball. There are only really 5 competitive teams each year, and while a lot of teams are happy being in the wild card race, they really don't have a shot in the playoffs. Salaries are too far out of control, and the teams who can afford to pay those salaries can also afford to pay the luxury tax.
Another area where the owners are getting bitched is drug testing. There was some sort of clause in the new collective bargaining agreement that called for drug testing, but it basically lets any player who's suspected of drug use not take the test. Only certain numbers of players can be tested and only teams get to choose who is tested, or something like that. I don't remember exactly and I'm not going to look it up right now, but it essentially ensures that Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi will never be tested for steroids, or any other drug for that matter.
Selig has made some progress as commissioner, but the owners need to screw their heads on a little bit tighter. The only owner who benefits from him being in power is George Steinbrenner, because Selig will never stand up to the union. Until that happens, look for the Yankees, Cardinals, Dodgers, Braves, and Angels to win every World Series.
