Brewers to Erect Statue of Bud Selig Outside Miller Park

Mr. Tony, even if you agree that he gets some undeserved blame don't you think he is a douche for never stepping aside and trying to find a real commissioner? Was he afraid if he stepped down another owner of a shitty small-market club would take his place and there'd never again be a real commissioner?

 

I don't think he planned on being there for 18 years, but I have little doubt that any plan he had to step aside was not a plan that the rest of the owners wanted any part of.

 

This. I would add that no one did more for baseball in Milwaukee than Bud Selig. Yes, the Brewers have sucked for a long time, but they are pretty respectable now, are drawing 3 million fans a year and have some entertaining players. Selig is the reason there is a franchise there, and it is a great baseball town. I bet if you polled the fans in Milwaukee, most of them would think of him positively. And that's where the statue is going to be, so I don't really see the big deal. Selig is not an "epic asshole" or the devil. He's a good guy.

He saved baseball in Milwaukee. Again, this is the Brewers paying tribute, not the Hall of Fame. This really shouldn't have anything to do with how you think he's been as a commissioner, because that isn't why they're doing this.

 

I'm genuinely curious as to why there is so much venom directed at this man. Of the big three, he is by far the best commissioner right now, in my opinion.

 

Sure, for a sheerly-reactive, ownership toady, he hasn't done too badly.

 

Decent for the Brewers. It is a credit to his tax-funded vision for Miller Park that the Brewers, Pirates & Royals are about the same TV market size but one team is decent and the other two teams are usually buried by Memorial Day.

Bad for baseball. Has been the face of the game's greatest decline in his 18 years. The game never "moved on" but fans did - including the youngest generation.

 

Traditionalists didn't like realignment, expanded play-offs, expansion,or inter-league play. Now, you can be in favor of those things, but what's so disingenuous about Selig is that he claims that every change is done to reward baseball fans. No, every change was done with the owner's bottom line in mind.

The way inter-league play is scheduled (like six games between the Yankees & Mets every year) is B.S. and results in teams in the same division playing a different schedule.

The was he managed to move his team to the National League (where no D.H. means lower costs) was B.S. This was done strictly to save money & to exploit the rivalry with the Cubs.

The way he gave the Red Sox to John Henry was B.S.

The way he handled the Expos/Nationals was B.S.

The way they've dealt with cities -- including threats of contraction -- to get new stadiums built was B.S.

The was he acts like he has no control over the start of W.S. games is B.S. They've sold their decision making ability to FOX.

He's a piss poor manager who never moved to New York to work out of MLB's office where he could actually lead his staff. Instead he works from Milwaukee or Arizona.

He takes too long to make decisions and is indecisive when he does.

Dealing with MLB on a corporate level is a pain in the ass. By leaving MLB.com under DuPuy and not integrating it into Tim Brosnan's sphere, he leaves companies without one point of contact. The two sides of his house are dysfunctional and difficult to work with.

He set up an MLB office in Arizona solely for the purpose of employing his son-in-law.

That's just off the top of my head.

 

Actually, it's Allan.

The Royals were offered to switch first, specifically for reasons of avoiding conflict of interest. They turned it down.

 

That doesn't make the conflict go away. Did Bud recuse himself entirely from the decision?

 

As I read, they made the specific decision to move the Tigers to the Central, then send one of the three teams that was in the division that wasn't a charter member over to the NL. So the Twins were the only other choice in the plan — my guess since the idea of someone winning a World Series in two different leagues was undesirable.