Bud Selig: “Inexorably” Ineffective

Those of you that read regularly know my stance on Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. If you got a chuckle out of my article comparing Roger Goodell’s handling of the NFL lockout to the Michigan J. Frog Merrie Melodies animated short, then you would have found my comparison of Bud Selig to Fred Flintstone to be a knee slapper!

Selig's usual reaction to...anything. 1

If You Can't Say Anything Nice....

I rarely say many positive things about Selig because I rarely think that he makes any decisions that improve the game of baseball. In fact, I’ll do a happy dance the day he steps down, after the 2012 season, according to Selig. This is the man who made great strides to make sure baseball would not expand instant replay by the start of the 2011 season, in spite of a comedy of umpiring follies in 2010, including ruining a perfect game for Detroit Tigers pitcher Armondo Gallaraga and hanging the contrite umpire, Jim Joyce, out to dry. This is a man who has never seriously put the idea of a salary cap on the table, in spite of the glaring lack of parody among clubs in free agency. The list is as long as the day.

I will also give credit where it is due. The best move Selig made in his entire career, in my opinion, was facilitating the expansion of the playoffs to include a wild card team and a divisional round. MLB, prior to 1995, had 28 teams with only 4 qualifying for postseason play. This resulted in some dull Septembers (and some Augusts) for the majority of teams’ fans. Doubling this number to 8 was a huge step in the right direction without completely reinventing the MLB postseason wheel.

Since then, there have been two more teams added to the league. With only 8 teams reaching the playoffs, Major League Baseball, by far, has the lowest percentage of teams, among the four major team sports, reaching the playoffs at 27%. In contrast, the National Football League sends 38% of its teams to the second season. The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League send 57% of their teams to the playoffs. It still suffers with the problem of too many teams, by modern standards, having very little to play for at the end of the regular season. In contrast, the drama and suspense for most teams in the other three sports begins to peak in the final month of their regular seasons.

The possibility of expanding the MLB playoffs from 8 to 10 teams, by adding two more wild card teams and a wild card round, was suggested in the media late last season. Last Thursday, Commissioner Selig, last week, announced that he thought MLB was moving “inexorably” toward adding two more playoff teams. Hallelujah! Bud “Flintstone” Selig finally sees the light on something (that the rest of the sporting world saw years ago)! Finally! There will be a little more life injected into the MLB regular season. Good for you, Bud! I knew you couldn’t be incompetent 100% of the time!

Selig six days ago.... 2

♪♪ “Back to life. Back to re-al-i-ty. Back to the here and now, yeah!” ♫

Bug Selig came through only like Bud Selig could: (risking) screwing up a good idea! In order to expand the playing schedule, it must be agreed upon in MLB’s collective bargaining agreement with the player’s union, which expires after this season. While there are no signs that the MLB collective bargaining process is a threat to be the cluster that has become the NFL’s CBA process, there are no guarantees and there are always details to be smoothed out. Players union chief Michael Weiner said that “it’s just too early” to treat the issue of expanding the playoffs as if it is a foregone conclusion.

There is always a story behind every story on any potentially contentious issue. The fact that Selig spoke with confidence, to the point of signaling an agreement on the issue was all but inevitable, six days ago only to be countered by a union head saying, “slow down,” tells me that the “inexorable” result of expanded playoffs may have gone from “inexorable” to a “bargaining chip”.

I have no idea what words were exchanged or ideas were floated between Selig, Weiner, or any of the owners since last week. However, the notion that a key decision maker in this process could tip his hand, ever so slightly, to the public and make the mere suggestion that a no-brainer change, a significant improvement to the game and the fan experience, such as expanded playoffs may not be implemented, in spite of the support of the Commissioner, is yet another unflattering reflection on Selig’s tenure as commissioner.

He had ignored the inexorable need for improvements in game play, he has ignored the inexorable need to improve basic fan safety, and he appears oblivious to the inexorable need to further level the playing field between large and small market teams. Now, the “inexorable” process of expanding the playoffs is not as inexorable as it was about a week ago. Bud Selig’s ineffectiveness as commissioner is inexorable.

Two days ago.... My frustration with this man is "inexorable". 3

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Major League Baseball is in the Stone Ages

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If you have ever taken college level business classes, you learn some very basic premises about business that lend themselves to common sense. Companies selling stock want to offer investors an opportunity to earn a return on the investment. The companies want to demonstrate that they are going to offer a product with value, with a demand. Companies want to show that they will innovate and be better than the competition. How else can you get someone to put his money into your company?



The gramophone was good enough in my day!



If I have to explain to you why you
should want to buy from me instead of
"Black & White Guy" on the left, you should
jump in front of a bus right now because your
DNA should not remain in the gene pool.

3, 4

So, what would you think of a company that clings to century old technology? A firm that does not bend to the whims of fancy, Johnny-come-lately trends just because every other competitor is using it and its customers love it…. A firm that believes its shortcomings are part of its charm…. A firm that would not want to deprive its customers of its failures because its customers would be deprived of the human element that makes the product so great…even when it is not great.



Sounds like an insane proposition, does it not? That is what Bud Selig and Major League Baseball put forward to the public. In contrast, the National Football League has utilized and fine tuned its use of instant replay for the past 15 years. It has expanded its brand to play regular season games in Europe. It has marketed itself to the point where the NFL is in the sporting news every day of the year – preseason, regular season, post season, offseason. If the NFL is the equivalent of the Jetsons in the sporting world, Major League Baseball is the Flintsones.



STRIKE THREE! YOU'RE OUT!!!

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George Jetson flies around through skyways in his vehicle. Fred Flintstone has a bunch of logs and branches with an animal skin for a roof and two cylindrical stones for wheels, attached to the chassis. They both make the best use of the resources available to them. So lets take a look at how George Jetson’s counterpart, Roger Goodell, handles situations in comparison to Fred Flintsone’s counterpart, Bud Selig.

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Situation – officials make egregious calls that alter the outcomes of games.



Roger Goodell thinks, “This is unacceptable! We have 20 high def cameras covering every angle of the field at all times. We are going to make the officials take one more look at the play, from every angle imaginable (in 90 seconds or less), and have an opportunity to correct any mistakes they may have made.



Bud Selig thinks, “The human element is part of the charm of the game. It’s what people pay for! The ’27 Yankees didn’t need instant replay. We didn’t need any fancy, high definition nonsense to know that something was wrong with the 1919 Black Sox! The original call was good enough for Johnny Mize; it’s good enough for Johnny Damon! YABBA DABBA DOOOOOO!”



Situation – after looking at the impact of a rule on the game, it is clear that the rule is a stupid one. It’s bad for the game and the fans dislike it.



Roger Goodell thinks, “This is unacceptable! Our fans have a voice and if we ignore that voice, they will start doing their talking with their wallets and remote controls. Jane, we’re going to stop this crazy thing! The tuck rule, as it was, was stupid and the better team did not win. That was changed. Calvin Johnson caught, what any normal, rational person, would think is a touchdown. The rule is stupid. We're changing that next year."



What’d you say, fans? You know what, it IS bad for the fans when two teams that play an entire season are in a game to decide one of our participants in our signature event, the Super Bowl, and a coin flip heavily influences the outcome in overtime. Let’s FIX that next year so that a team doesn’t win a coin toss, get a good kickoff return, one good passing play, and a field goal to advance in the playoffs.”



Bud Selig thinks, “The show must go on! I don’t care if game 5, a potential closeout game, of our signature event, the World Series, has to be played in a maelstrom and we might not be able to finish the game. People want baseball and, gosh darnit, I’m gonna give it to them! If we have to call it after 5 innings, I’m in charge, we’ll pick it up where we left off. I’m not going to let some stupid RULES mess up the flow of the game! (This is contradictory on so many levels.)



PLAY BALL!!!

7

WILLLL-MAAAA! Why are people belly aching about the All-Star Game? The better league should host the World Series and the All-Star game is a gallant effort from the greatest ballplayers in world, played to the finish, to decide league supremacy! Nobody cares about trivial things like win-loss records. Those all star players break their neck to prepare for the All Star Game and we are going to honor that warrior-like commitment by deciding who gets to host the World Series! They're a team! And they're in it together! Those fans just don’t understand what they would really like better. YABBA DABBA DOOOO!”



Situation – The final month of the regular season approaches.



Roger Goodell thinks, “We have 32 teams. With 12 playoff participants, all but the worst of the worst teams have a chance at the playoffs in December. Most fans are going to be engaged with their teams until the end. People are buying tickets and watching on television. People are talking about all of the games. Even the worst teams could play “spoiler”. It’s a good thing Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue added wild card teams so that games not involving division leaders actually MEAN something.”



Bud Selig thinks (in 1993), “Well, we have 28 teams now. We’ll have 30 in a few years. (sigh) Well I…guess it can’t hurt to add a divisional round to the playoffs. It’s just…two more teams in each league. Someone will like it…I guess.”



There is no better way to spend a Sunday than at the oooold ballpark!

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(in 2010) “No, damnit! We have 8 teams going to the playoffs already! I don’t care about empty stadiums in August and September. I’ve broken tradition enough as it is! I don’t care if we have more than double the teams we had 50 years ago. That means better competition. If Pittsburgh Pirate fans are REAL fans, they’ll stop wasting their money on Steelers tickets in the fall and watch all of the young prospects…the ‘Pirates of tomorrow’ grow before their very eyes. We are NOT going to become the NBA!! (Isn’t that the truth!) I’ve listened to the fans, and people do not want MORE playoffs. They want to hurry up and get the season over with! (And at the rate he’s going, everyone will share that sentiment soon) YABBA DABBA DOOOOO!"



So which company do you want to invest your money in? One that is a pioneer for sports technology? Or the one that is too rich in tradition to bend to the whims of its customers and make all kinds of stupid improvements and useless changes that make the product better? I know where my money is going. And here’s a hint: I think the Flintstones' descendants made the right choice to reinvent the wheel.




Only this dude would invest in MLB with a plan to make money.
And we all know where Gordon Gecko ended up.

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