If you take away the New York Yankees, Bud Selig was the highest paid player in baseball in 2007.

That’s right, the commissioner who will likely be judged by fans as the worst that any of the four major sports has ever employed (yet the best ever by other owners), “earned” over $18 million in 2007. The only players in baseball who made more than that were Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens.

Selig’s claim to fame on the positive is a remarkable financial turnaround during his tenure, which has led owners and historians to judge him quite favorably, but to many, he’ll always be the guy who was sitting in the commissioner’s chair during:

• The 1994 Strike
• The Steroid Era
• The All-Star Game tie
• Creation of the Wild Card
• Interleague Play
• The Phillies-Rays rain delay debacle
• The Mitchell Report
• Being charged with racketeering and conspiracy involving defrauding the Expos owners
• Home-field advantage to the All-Star game winner

Sure, he was also on the clock when the 2002 work stoppage was avoided, but his job was to keep it from happening. He gets no credit from me for that one.

One reason that owners and historians seem to love him is that he is making the game more money. How is he doing this? Well, that’s another reason I don’t like him.

The reason baseball is making more money is that there are now three rounds of playoffs instead of two, and with all three rounds, the scheduling is manipulated so that all of the games can be on television (on FX, where all great baseball memories first appear). It doesn’t matter to these people that he is ruining the history and integrity of the game, as long as checks keep clearing.

Subjecting us to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver (not Selig’s fault) with one postseason series on network television, as well as being a party to ruining the experience of watching the regular season (see: Extra Innings package, caveman era blackout policies), is not something that I think is making baseball a better sport than it was in 1991 when Selig was last not-commissioner.

I suppose if you believe that creating worse fan experiences are a criteria for being commissioner, then yes, he’s doing a fantastic job. Between the awful decay in television coverage (Extra Innings, FX, Joe Buck), and the drastic increases in ticket prices thanks to the 20 new stadiums that will open on his watch, Selig is making the game a corporate sideshow, not America’s pastime. For that, I’ll never forgive him.

According to the documents, Selig also got back over $400,000 for expenses. That’s a lot of money to be spending in a year just for work.

It’s one thing to be incompetent, or at least in this case, disagreeable, but I can’t stand by and watch this guy do such a below average job, while average fans can’t afford to go to the ballpark, and the commissioner makes more than all of the overpaid players that are playing the game to begin with.

How is the commissioner who will be the commissioner of record for the ugliest and most controversial generation of professional baseball make this much money?

Baseball is not the game it was 20 years ago, and Selig is one of the major reasons why. Not addressing the fact that the sport is dictated to by the Players Union is reason enough alone to say that Selig failed on the job.

The next commissioner (who arrives in 2012) must, and I repeat MUST, institute a salary cap and find a way to win back fans. Selig failed, and if it takes a generation to accept that, then I’ll wait. The next guy MUST be better. Taking some of the power back from the players is the only way it will happen.

Oh yeah, and no more ties or home-field advantage in the All-Star game. What were you thinking?

Share this story...

Discussion

No comments for “Bud Selig is Extremely Overpaid, Overrated”

Post a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.