Minnesota figured out Selig long ago

Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 13, 2002

After Tuesday night's prime-time spectacle one would be hard-pressed to find a sorrier individual than Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

Pretty much all of America -- and perhaps the world -- knew Major League Baseball was royally screwed up. Tuesday night in the mid-summer's classic, Major League Baseball proved beyond a reasonable doubt it is the worst-run industry -- which is hard to say these days -- in the world. It also gave further proof to all Minnesotans that Bud Selig might be the sorriest person and certainly the dumbest in all the land.

I felt sorry for Selig for about a minute, or two, and then broke into hysterical laughter. Still today the mere mention of Selig and Tuesday's All-Star game bring an uncontrollable smirk.

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In case anyone was under a rock, the All-Star game ended in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings. The game was called because both managers reportedly didn't have any players left. Instead of pressing the managers to not make a further joke of an industry way out of control, Selig went along with them. Here was a golden opportunity, in prime time, for Selig to demonstrate leadership and make a decision with the fans in mind. Instead, Selig sided with the players -- and in many ways the owners -- by allowing the game to end in a tie.

Selig's latest blunder came one day after he decided again to rail on Minnesota -- and Minnesotans -- for not stepping forward and financing a new baseball park. Well, the decision by Minnesotans to go slow is looking smarter and smarter by the day.

Many Minnesotans understand a new, modern stadium would be a welcomed attraction and addition to the Twin Cities. With the promising, young Minnesota Twins in first place, local baseball fans are keenly aware of the importance of a new stadium.

What Minnesotans can see, that apparently other communities have either not been able to see, or have chosen not to, is baseball is so screwed up at the moment a new stadium will not make a difference.

One needs look no further than the past several weeks to see major examples of what ails MLB.

First, the sport is headed to another player's strike. Each passing day is one more day closer to the player's setting a strike date and then delivering. The labor impasse is alive because of simple greed. The players are greedy. The players' agents are greedy. The owners are greedy. Greed is ruining the game and finally maybe baseball's end game.

Second, the New York Yankees can buy any player they desire, and thus a championship. First they add Raul Mondesi, then Jeff Weaver. Yes, it's the Yankees' prerogative to attempt to deliver a championship each season, however, when the other teams simply are unable to something is incredibly wrong.

Third, steroid and drug use among MLB players is apparently rampant. Go back to 1986 and take a look at a picture of Mark McGwire, then race ahead about five years. Think he wasn't souped up? The apparent widespread use of steroids threatens to destroy baseball's treasured credibility. Baseball has prided itself as being ethical and above reproach. It's a game based heavily on statistics, statistics that transcend time. If it's proven many MLB players were juiced up during the past decade, including the game's superstars responsible for record-setting performances, a deep wound will be inflicted -- a wound perhaps beyond healing.

Fourth, Tuesday's All-Star game turned into a debacle of major proportions. Not so long ago the All-Star game meant something to the players and to the fans. Not any longer. Tuesday's decision to end the game was made without respect for the fans and the game. The ultimately responsibility of this latest blunder falls on the shoulders of Major League Baseball Commission Bud Selig. Sure, many share fault, but he could have stood up and put an end, just like Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis did in 1919 when gambling corruption was poised to ruin the sport. Instead Selig let his chance to make a difference slip by.

And finally comes word a MLB team will fail to make its payroll on Monday. It doesn't seem to ever end for the sorry Selig and his band of blind business people.

With his latest blunder Selig probably has lost more fans and stepped on the accelerator heading baseball down a dead end road with no off-ramp in site. The dead end is a strike that will make 1994's look like a walk in the park.

Along for the ride will be the Minnesota Twins' playoff chances. Those chances will end in the insanity that is baseball's labor situation.

Meanwhile, Bud Selig can rail on us all he wants. We'll just smile and give our best Minnesota nice stick, secretly knowing all the time what a sorry idiot the man is -- perhaps the sorriest and stupidest in all the land.