POKING FUN OF MANFRED'S BASEBALL LOCKOUT

We all know Rob Manfred is bad for baseball. He's an incompetent failure of a commissioner who makes me miss the days of Bud Selig which is amazing to even think about. But here we are....and now we have to wonder whenever this lockout finally ends, who will be left standing?

And I'm not talking about just the fan base. I already know some friends and family who say they are turned off by baseball now. They are going to pay more attention to other sports or even other interests. Maybe some players, too? Some hint at it. Some are also just flirting with a funny moment on social media but anything is possible at this point.

Enter Bryce Harper, he's being funny. Why not reach out to the Tokyo Giants in Nippon Professional Baseball and just have a good laugh. He has plenty of time to kill so why not just drop a photoshopped picture of him in their uniform? And why shouldn't they answer one of the biggest names in MLB and poke a little fun too?

No harm no foul, right? NPB mirrors MLB pretty closely so they are in the middle of their preseason right now. There are some ex MLB players who had successful careers in Japan too. Crazier things could happen if it weren't for the 13-year, $330 million contract with the Phillies that he'd never just walk away from.

Some players though don't have a Harper type contract or talent though, like Joey Gallo for example. I don't think the Tokyo Giants would be as interested in him either but maybe his LinkedIn post will catch someone's attention. No I'm not joking, check it out. The striking out, hitting into the shift and getting dressed weird are definitely skills he is good at so there's that. A little truth with humor there.

No but seriously though....if someone really wants Gallo PLEASE just take him. If some sort of valued exchange has to happen we can call a new bucket of balls and some Big League Chew gum a fair trade (I'm lying because I don't require all of that...or any of that). Someone else just give this man a job....ANY job that takes him far away from the Yankees. I BEG of you.

Think about it. Manfred and his owners lockout are a comedy routine killing our favorite sport.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

THE PLAYER'S REBELLION AGAINST ROB MANFRED IN FULL SWING!

I have nothing nice to say about Rob Manfred, and I really would be surprised if any of us have anything nice to say about him. I wouldn't believe it to be honest. I never thought I would say I miss Bud Selig.....but I do. Rob Manfred is absolutely killing the sport that we all love and he's been getting away with it easily but now, the players begin to rebel.

This is only the start and it's going to get even stickier than it already is. Rob Manfred is determined to crackdown on pitchers' use of foreign substances on the baseball only adds fuel to the fire. Pitchers are already angry and it will only make agreeing on a new CBA that expires on December 1st virtually impossible.

I really don't want to think about the possibility of a lockout but....I believe CBA talks were going to go sideways anyway, so this only makes it worse. The players were already frustrated with Manfred unilaterally deciding how to handle last season due to the pandemic so if 2022 Spring Training starts on time it will be a miracle.

MLB headlines Tuesday night were not pretty. The Yankees lost on Tuesday 6-5 to the Royals and umpires checked Gerrit Cole's hat and glove for foreign substances after the third and sixth innings. You can read about it more HERE, but a picture says a thousand words.

And if a picture says a thousand words, videos tell us even more. Nationals ace Max Scherzer also wasn't very happy when he was checked by umpires three times in four innings. Then in a crazier turn of events Phillies manager Joe Girardi gets ejected from the game after he instigates a fight with him.

By the way, after the game Scherzer had a lot to say to the press. The most interesting part of this is he is a member of the MLBPA executive subcommittee which is the highest level of player involvement in the union. Scherzer is going to have a lot more to say in the coming months.

And there's still more! Oakland A's pitcher Sergio Romo was also checked for sticky stuff and he was a little less PG-13 when he removed his belt. It's highly unlikely that he saw Scherzer's reaction so I doubt he was playing copycat here, just in case anyone thinks so.

This circus is what Manfred has created. This isn't baseball at all. The ASSTROS cheated to win a tainted championship and players weren't punished at all, but pitchers who use a foreign substance will face a 10-game suspension. You can't fix stupid.

Manfred has turned baseball into a circus. He's destroyed this game and infuriated fans but now he's pissed off the players to the point of a rebellion. This is only the start, and as tensions rise it will only get worse. Manfred has destroyed baseball and until the owners are financially crippled by MLB's frustrated fanbase we will be stuck with him. So I hope it happens sooner rather than later otherwise baseball is dead.

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj

STOP LYING MANFRED, THOSE BALLS ARE JUICED!

Welcome to Baseball's newest scandal. We've seen the performance enhanced drugs (PEDS) scandal but this is 2019 now. We still have PEDS but now we also have PEB's.....Performance Enhancing Baseballs.

Rob Manfred has spent a lot of time over the past few days emphatically denying that Major League Baseball has altered baseballs to generate more offense amid widespread criticism that baseballs are "juiced." He says it's false. I say he's probably full of shit.

There's one thing that just doesn't sit well with me over all of these "juiced baseball" allegations and that is the clear conflict of interest in all of this. Maybe some people just don't know this but Major League Baseball OWNS Rawlings, read more HERE. The fact that home runs are at crazy historic highs and MLB owns Rawlings the company that manufactures the baseball should be eye-opening! Why isn't this getting MORE attention? Manfred defended the $395 million purchase stating it guaranteed the viability of baseball. Owning Rawlings means producing and controlling the baseball ensures sustainability of the sport and quality control.

Quality control? HA! More like lies and manipulation of the game. Granted, Rawlings was purchased more than two years AFTER baseball started seeing spikes in home runs BUT 700 more home runs were hit in the 2015 season when compared to 2014. Another interesting stat? Bud Selig stepped down as commissioner in 2014 and Manfred took over as commissioner a few months before the 2015 season started. Coincidence? Maybe, but the increase in home runs in that short amount of time and the future acquisition of Rawlings under Manfred's leadership is very compelling.

So I really just don't buy what Manfred is trying to sell. There's an obvious conflict of interest here. He says "Baseball has done nothing, given no direction for an alteration in the baseball," read more HERE but in an interview with ESPN's Golic and Wingo, he admits scientists say that the ball has "less drag." Oh but don't worry fans....the topic is "under discussion" but he "can go no further" in discussions. That's cryptic and shady. Meanwhile, players like Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer have their own compelling arguments and they make sense! The ball "feels different!" This isn't a made up problem but it is a problem Manfred is trying to sweep under the rug.

I don't buy the "no alterations" argument but I also don't buy the MLB doesn't "want" more home runs, either. Manfred says "The flaw in logic is that baseball wants more home runs. If you sat in owners meetings and listen to people on how the game is played, that is not a sentiment among the owners for whom I work." He wants us all to believe that owners are "concerned" about the number of home runs. They should be, too. There were 3,691 homers in the first half  and MLB is on pace for almost 7,000! If that happens, the old record of 6,105 in 2017 will be crushed....and that's a crazy number anyway! The game isn't supposed to be a Home Run Derby.

But once again....Manfred lying! Manfred goes on to say "It's easy to get carried away with 'you have too many home runs, but let's not forget that our fan data suggests fans like home runs. It's not the worst thing in the world." But remember, owners are "concerned" with the number of home runs. If fans liked all of the home runs, owners wouldn't be concerned at all, right? Maybe attendance wouldn't be down at baseball games! But remember...."it's not the worst thing in the world" as Moron Manfred says.

We just watched the Home Run Derby this week, which isn't nearly as exciting for me as it once was because seriously.....EVERY GAME IS A HOME RUN DERBY now according to statistics. Anyone else think it is crazy that Vladimir Guerrero Jr, a 20-year old Rookie hit 91 home runs?! Tell me that ball isn't juiced and give me facts to back it up. Tell me that ball isn't wound tighter!

Oh and what about Manfred's idea to make the game quicker? If he wants to do that long innings of home run derby during a regulated game is not the way to do it. AND if he wants to globalize baseball....the London Series we just watched with the Red Sox and the Yankees isn't a good impression. Baseball games aren't supposed to look like football scores, which is exactly what it looked like. People who are not familiar with the sport we all love so much suddenly think five hour long baseball games are normal....all thanks to the home run ball. STUPID Manfred!

Look, even if you don't think Manfred has a hand in this and he doesn't contribute to this issue....there is a problem here. Manfred doesn't make it any better. He contradicts himself and he looks untrustworthy. He's lost all credibility at this point. He's an idiot. He should be finding ways to solve the issue and he should be transparent.

Manfred is not being transparent at all. He wants us all to think he is but he's part of the problem. Congrats, Manfred....you created PEB's the next baseball scandal. OWN IT.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj

MLB IS FAILING ALL THANKS TO ITS FAILING LEADER

I love baseball. I can't get enough of it but the passion I have today is different then the passion I used to have. There's an obvious change in the game and I'm not digging it. It bothers me that it is just being overlooked and swept under the rug. Here's what I mean....

The last two offseasons have been incredibly frustrating. Free Agency is not what it once was, in fact I would say that FREE AGENCY IS FOR THE BIRDS. I have a feeling that Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel would agree with me at this point. They have become casualties to Rob Manfred's delusional and failing world.

Teams today are so focused on keeping their draft picks, rebuilding, and staying under the luxury task. Are there enough teams out there that actually CARE about winning at this point? Isn't that the ultimate goal? It should be to win the division, beat other teams in the division and championship series and then win it all in the World Series. At least, that's how it was. That's the old world of baseball that I loved and became so passionate about.

But times have changed. Do teams still care about all of that? Sure. Do they care enough? No, and all because Manfred doesn't care. If teams cared, two of the best players from the free agent class wouldn't be unemployed in May. If Manfred cared, he would acknowledge the problem and fix it! These guys should both have jobs right now. Free Agency has failed them....and commissioner Rob Manfred absolutely failed them. He disagrees that Free Agency is broken. His failure to recognize the broken system makes HIM a failure.

Here's where we are at now. In a month, Keuchel MIGHT have a job. Some team out there may decide to sign him after the draft ends, read more HERE. One of those teams MAY be the Yankees. If the stars align and Keuchel is a still a free agent after the draft ends, teams won’t have to cough up a compensatory pick to the Astros who made him the $17.9-million qualifying offer he rejected. Just like I said, teams want to hold on to their draft picks.

Next month if Keuchel remains unsigned a team WILL sign him because he becomes cheaper and teams keep their precious draft picks. Why is it okay for baseball to become THIS?

You may love Keuchel or you may think he is overrated. That's fine. Fact is he deserved more than this. He may not be the Cy Young caliber pitcher he once was but he's still an asset to any team out there. He had a good 2018 with a 12-11 record with a 3.74 ERA and 153-58 strike to ball ratio across 204.2 innings. That's still better than average in the American League and he's an innings eater!

There is nothing so wrong with Keuchel's record right now that he should be unemployed. This is a FAILURE on Manfred's part and he needs to own it plain and simple. I wasn't Bud Selig's biggest cheerleader but right now I'm wishing he was still the commissioner.

There is a problem in the sport I love so much. Instead of fixing the broken free agent system Manfred is worried about limiting mound visits and putting in pitch clocks to make baseball more appealing to younger viewers. He wants to make the game FASTER. How about we make baseball FUNCTION again? He's focused on all of the wrong areas. He's a failure.

This may not be a popular opinion with fans, but I'm sure guys like Keuchel and Kimbrel have their own similar opinions. We already heard J.D. Martinez give his opinion so how can Manfred deny that there is a problem here?

No matter how you look at it both of these guys SHOULD have jobs somewhere. Free Agency is broken, and Manfred is failing. The the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. How can you succeed at these things when you don't understand all of them? Until he stops denying free agency is a problem, the labor aspect of his duties will never function.

Manfred is failing. He's failed the players within the sport for the second year in a row, he's failing the fans and until he fixes these issues he will never achieve his own personal goals to help improve the sport. Baseball needs a leader, Manfred hasn't proved that he's the right guy.

I love baseball, but I'm starting to think Manfred is destroying it.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj

THE CLOCK IS TICKING ON TIMELESS BALLGAMES

Let us all bow our heads for a moment in silent tribute to the latest casualty in baseball's absurd war against the timeless tradition of a timepiece-free sport --  the four-pitch intentional walk.

As has been widely reported, with 923 IBBs last season in 2,430 games, this rule change would have sliced an average of 1.5 pitches -- or about 35 seconds--  per game league wide.

Photo: Getty Images

That's one more small step for Commish Rob Manfred and his merry band of shorter-game-is-good scammers; one giant leap toward a game full of crazy shortcuts and nonsensical omissions leading to the end of the sport as we know it without a clock. 

Think that's unlikely?

You may have heard a new clock has been speeding up the time between the last out of each inning and the first batter in the box for the next one. Perhaps you noticed there's often already a ball and strike count on the hitter when MLB telecasts return from their commercial breaks? Or maybe you didn't notice because you're still in the bathroom; taking your usual length of time to do your business, but thought you just don't have the same velocity you used to when you finished and the game was already back.

You probably already know warm up pitches for starters and relievers have been drastically limited, and that visits to the mound by catchers and managers -- often used to allow a pitcher with a tired or sore arm to give it a brief respite  -- have been severely curtailed. 

And yet the mystery of all those shoulder and elbow injuries continues to confound this mastermind Commish who proposes putting a runner on second base in the tenth inning to shorten games; not grasping the fact that doing so for each team does virtually nothing to increase  the chances of a shorter game but greatly enhances the chances of a bunting festival -- a scenario sure to attract swarms of formerly disinterested potential fans to ballparks.

A pitch clock is already in use in the minors. Does anybody believe that isn't intended to be a shakedown ahead of an appearance in major league ballparks?  

Photo: Getty Images

Basically, they've shaved every second they can off the game and yet last season games were longer than they've ever been, much to Manfred's dismay. But rather than accept all these silly moves have made no impact and rescind them, he presses onward and downward with this latest move to eliminate the intentional walk -- and deny us forever the unexpected splendor of moments like this one from El Kraken last season. 







To us, it was a crucial insurance run, and a fun one at that. To our commissioner, it was a waste of time and boring baseball nobody wants to see. 

Is he even a fan of the game? Or does he have another agenda entirely? 

After reading the following by Bob Nightengale in USAToday this week, I'm seriously beginning to doubt the former and believing the latter. 

"Manfred, citing research, was alarmed that baseball had more inactivity during games than at any other time in history. Home runs were up 32% since 1980, and strikeouts increased by 67%. The emergence of powerful bullpens also limited the number of late lead changes. 'I'm firmly convinced that our fans want us to respond to and manage the change that’s going on in the game,' Manfred said. 'I’m certain our job as stewards of the game is to be responsive to fans, and I reject the notion that we can educate fans to embrace the game as it’s currently been played.' "

More home runs equal more inactivity to Manfred....and HE'S ALARMED ABOUT THEM.

Read that sentence again. MORE HOME RUNS EQUAL MORE  INACTIVITY TO MANFRED....and he's alarmed about them.

He's also alarmed by more strikeouts. 

So he doesn't like home run hitters doing well (I guess putting a clock on their home run trots can't be far off)  and he doesn't like pitchers doing well, which we already gathered from the clocks and other restrictions on them. 

So what the heck does this guy like about baseball anyway -- except, of course, that he thinks it's better if it ends quicker? 

I sure don't see it.

Photo: Sports Illustrated

Further along in Nightengale's piece, Manfred brandishes the sword of secret fan polling (as usual)  to justify his lunacy.  "We know based on fundamental research what our fans think about the game,” Manfred said. “It’s in the players’ interest, it’s in our interest, to be responsible to what fans think about the game.”

I find it telling he uses the term fundamental research to justify all this weirdness because fundamental or basic research is intended merely to fill in gaps in knowledge about  phenomena, and specifically about things that aren't directly applicable or useful. Applied research is research that seeks to answer a question in the real world and to solve a problem. Either Manfred's misspoke there or he's advocating substantive changes based on polling and demographic data that's by definition is woefully incomplete and may actually backfire in a big way. 

I'd love to see this fan research he constantly refers to because I've never seen a single poll where any demographic of the population that DOESN'T watch baseball says they WOULD consider becoming fans if the games were any shorter. And I've never personally met a soul who disliked the game that answered  length of the game when I asked them why. Not one. And believe me, I've met  plenty over the years and always asked. There's lots of reasons not to like baseball because it's a thinking person's game, and goodness knows, it's not hard to find very nice people with the attention spans and intellects of gnats who are repelled by it. And there are certainly no shortage of sports and games that appeal to them. But not even a 10-minute one-inning ballgame starting with the bases loaded for each team would suck them in. 

Ross Atkins: Toronto Blue Jays General Manager

The fact is when you like something it goes by too quickly no matter how long it actually is, and when you don't it can't end fast enough. And when  bizarre illogical changes  get  pushed hard by the highest executive in the game, it prompts  otherwise reasonable people like  Toronto's GM to suggest almost equally bizarre alternatives like lopping two innings off the length of games or our own  Yankees skipper to suggest radio headsets for certain players, because in their minds those options are reasonable by comparison. That's scary stuff.

I truly believe this whole push to shorten games started by  Selig and now carried on by his hand-picked stooge Manfred is just a smoke screen to appease the networks who are pissed there's no easy way to stop baseball games in the middle of play with bogus official timeouts so they can sell more commercials like they can with other clock-driven sports. So the networks just want the "baseball show" to end sooner so they can move on to the rest of their programming schedule that runs in 30 minute and 60 minute blocks of which 65% can be sold as commercial time (about the same percentage as the other sports). 

Truth be told, if they were really concerned  about attendance and viewership, they'd simply  lower prices for game tickets, concession food and MLB.TV subscriptions and aggressively market the added value. But as Nightengale points out in his piece, things are just hunky dory so there's no need.  Owners are making bigger profits than ever before. Even the smallest market franchises can afford to lock up their young stars to long-term mega deals and sign big-time free agents now. Players are earning more than ever before. More tickets are being sol than ever before and more people are seeing games on TV and their computers than ever before. There's no falling interest in baseball. There's no "there" there. The networks can't cram more commerical time into their telecasts without hurting other more lucrative commercial programming so all they can do is make it more cost-effective by getting it on and getting it off within as predictable a time period as possible.   Only the laziest old sportswriters, laziest old umps  and  most casual fans who don't really follow the sport to begin with seem to think the games need to be dramatically shortened. 

And Rob Manfred.

Baseball. Doesn't. Need. Clocks.

Take your base, commissioner. And take your illogical justifications and fuzzy research with you. 

 --Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore
  

DON'T KID YOURSELF, TOM BRADY IS NO DEREK JETER!

And sorry, but in at least one way he never will be. For the past week I have seen article after article on the Internet comparing the two. I have also heard hours of conversation talking about it thanks to those articles and the upcoming Super Bowl. I just can't avoid talking about it anymore. To be perfectly clear I am NOT a Tom Brady fan and while I agree they are both sports legends in their own right but....Derek Jeter is in a class of his own!

Just as I am on team Jeter, Rolling Stone is on team Brady going so far as to call Jeter "overrated" HERE. Maybe they should stick to music but regardless, yes, Tom Brady is an incredibly fortunate man. He has a beautiful model wife (hell, even I won't deny that!), good looks, a fan base that worships the ground he walks on and four super bowl rings. Derek Jeter doesn't have ANY of that.....OH WAIT......          

                         

Jeter has ALL of that and then some. He definitely has the good looks part down. He dated some of the most beautiful women in the world before he finally tied the knot with model Hannah Davis! I mean, I think mensfitness.com absolutely NAILED it with this picture called the "dating diamond." The women on this diamond are gorgeous.

I mean, hello.....Adrianna Lima anyone? I haven't met a man yet that would say "no thanks." So, both men have their supermodels.

Here's a good one for you. Like Patriots fans, we worship Derek Jeter. In fact, we have adored him for so long and so did the entire organization that he was given a tremendous honor when he was named the 15th Captain in franchise history. He held his title proudly from 2003-2014 and even after he retired we still don't have a new one. We probably won't for a long time because those are hard shoes to fill and the Yankees just don't have that kind of leader on the team yet.

Unlike the Patriots, who have more than one "Captain" and this year for example, Brady gets a co-captain with Rob Gronkowski. Before anyone wants to go off on a tangent and say "you need captains for offensive and defensive lines" OR "Football is different, you can't judge it the same!" Leadership is based upon the same principles no matter what the context is. Jeter was the very definition of it and didn't need a wingman.

Oh and how about those rings? Until the Super Bowl reveals it's winner tonight....Brady has FOUR rings to Jeter's FIVE and I sincerely hope it stays that way. Jeter was not only the face of the Yankees but he was the face of baseball. His abilities and leadership brought winning baseball back to the Bronx after our own long drought and he delivered under pressure.

Both of these men have been important to their sport. However, there is still another big difference here. Brady has been the star quarterback that Bill Belichick has needed all of these years just as Jeter was the star Captain and shortstop that Joe Torre and Joe Girardi needed but without all of the controversy.

Jeter was the classiest guy in the game. Even some of the biggest Yankee haters but intense baseball lovers I know have said that. You can hate the Yankees all you want but Jeter was all about class and he was and still is so respected. I will NEVER forget how Casey Kotchman tipped his cap as Jeter ran the bases after his infamous 3000th home run hit. Former teammate Johnny Damon even came out of the Rays dugout to congratulate him and David Price graciously left his glove on the mound and walked to the dugout to let Jeter enjoy his moment. That is incredible respect from your peers!

Jeter played the game the right way and he didn't let his success go to his head. Even off of the field he made all of the right moves. You would find Jeter's name in the newspaper, but it was all business. There were no unpleasant tabloid stories plastered on the gossip columns. He had a clean image and he was a true role model. I hope that some day my kids will have a "Derek Jeter" to look up to but I wouldn't be surprised if he is a one-of-a-kind.

So there is no avoiding it. Brady doesn't have a squeaky clean image. He was in the tabloids and there is no taking 2007 away and erasing it. Yes, news broke that Brady's "old" girl Bridget Moynahan was pregnant with Brady's baby right before he began dating Gisele Bundchen. That chapter is missing in Jeter's legacy, thankfully.

And of course, the chapter that will never be forgotten....the great Deflate-gate. It doesn't matter if you or anyone else thinks the man is guilty as sin for cheating or completely innocent. The odd dynamics of the situation casts doubt on his reputation. No matter how you spin the story, it still cost Brady a four game suspension and a lot of controversy. The NFL commissioner may have conducted a flawed investigation but it makes no sense to keep one of the biggest stars out of the game if there was no reason to believe that there was some measure of dishonesty. After all, a suspension means no appearance on televised football games, fewer fans buying tickets and decreased TV ratings. It all boils down to lost money and the NFL would not take a decision like that lightly.

It all boils down to reputation and respect.

When Jeter announced retirement, commissioner Bud Selig had nothing but praise for him.

"In the 21-plus years in which I have served as Commissioner, Major League Baseball has had no finer ambassador than Derek Jeter. Since his championship rookie season of 1996, Derek has represented all the best of the National Pastime on and off the field. He is one of the most accomplished and memorable players of his - or any - era."

I will make a bold prediction here and say that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell probably won't have a statement like that once Brady decides to retire.

So Rolling Stone and all of the other recent Brady loving fans and publications out there can keep Brady. The "overrated" Derek Jeter left a mark on America's favorite pastime that will never be tarnished. Too bad Brady can't say the same thing. No matter what the outcome of the game is this weekend I will never forget that.

GO FALCONS! GO NUMBER 2!

--Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Follow me on Twitter: @NYPrincessJ

THE BUD SELIG EMBARRASSMENT

This one still doesn't sit well with me. I had the same visceral reaction last week when I saw this in the news as I do every time I talk about it with fellow fans. I cannot understand how in the world Bud Selig got elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It's eating at me. For a long time, he represented everything that is wrong with the game. Now he will be forever enshrined in honor of his good work for the game.

There was an article by Phil Mushnick last week and again earlier this week talking about this. In case you don't know Phil, he's a reporter for the New York Post, an old curmudgeon that has a gift for stringing words together to blast things that usually should be blasted. Phil took aim at the Bud Selig's Hall of Fame confirmation, citing his focus on dollars at the expense of the quality and character of the game (read: Baseball Hall of Fame’s Bud Selig Hypocrisy an Embarrassment).

Baseball's biggest black eye in recent history has been the issue of steroid use among players. It threw the credibility of players' record-setting accomplishments into question even among its biggest supporters. Nowhere is the issue more prominent than in the Hall of Fame. Lots of players who, in their playing days, had records which would have guaranteed entry are now struggling to get even a modest showing among BBWAA voters. Fans everywhere debate what the criteria should be for a generation of players largely accused of cheating as a whole. Just think about the fact that baseball's all-time home run leader got above the halfway mark for election into the Hall for the first time this past year on his fourth try. The state of affairs of baseball is tragic.

Bud Selig presided over this era and is openly accused of implicit approval by his silence on the issue. Baseball was recovering from it's previous "biggest black eye" - the 1994 strike and subsequent cancellation of the World Series. Fans were starting to come back in large numbers and bringing their cash with them. As the charge goes, and Mushnick is in great support of it, Selig was not going to stop the cash flow and impede players' ability to hit more home runs and generate more excitement, even in the interest of the game's integrity. By the way, Selig presided over the 1994 work stoppage too. But I digress.

To his credit, Selig did introduce some good things to baseball. We have interleague play, expanded divisions, and the wildcard thanks to Bud Selig. We also have the luxury tax thanks to him. While it is the bane of the Yankees existence, most baseball purists believe it makes the game more competitive for small market teams and people view it positively. I'll save my 2 cents on that topic for another time. I'll end this with a quote by Mushnick of one of his readers on how this all feels to me. “Selig set fire to the building and now he’s rewarded for calling the fire department.”

Exactly.

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Contributor
Follow me on Twitter: @KingAgamemnon