MLB to Little Leagues

[66-70-83-??]

I believe they were unneeded in general, but that MLB believed they were needed because of the strike.

He was in charge and did absolutely nothing to stop it until threatened by frickin' CONGRESS.

Really, we shouldn't even be talking about him here, because he is still the owners' puppet. They did all of that.

He was in charge, but he can't implement changes that involve the CBA with the players. If he tried, he would have been in court for violating the legal agreement.

Bud at least gave the issue lip service. It was Fehr who totally stonewalled the issue whenever it was brought up.

Who bought the drugs, used the drugs, denied the use of drugs, paid for ways to avoid detection, etc...Right- the players did. But, Bud gets all the blame.

I get it- Bud gets the blame for everything, but the credit for nothing.

Ok. That is fair.

[BaltimoreTerp]

He was in charge, but he can't implement changes that involve the CBA with the players. If he tried, he would have been in court for violating the legal agreement.

Bud at least gave the issue lip service. It was Fehr who totally stonewalled the issue whenever it was brought up.

Yeah, because the players union was going to want to go to court and risk having many of their members be discovered as users. That is the kind of plan that gets you, as the leader of the union, removed.

They bluffed and baseball (nominally led by Selig) blinked.

Who bought the drugs, used the drugs, denied the use of drugs, paid for ways to avoid detection, etc...Right- the players did. But, Bud gets all the blame.

I get it- Bud gets the blame for everything, but the credit for nothing.

Ok. That is fair.

He needs something worth taking credit for. I think there is very little of that for him. Especially being a puppet of the owners.

[DrungoHazewood]

He was in charge, but he can't implement changes that involve the CBA with the players. If he tried, he would have been in court for violating the legal agreement.

Bud at least gave the issue lip service. It was Fehr who totally stonewalled the issue whenever it was brought up.

Who bought the drugs, used the drugs, denied the use of drugs, paid for ways to avoid detection, etc...Right- the players did. But, Bud gets all the blame.

I get it- Bud gets the blame for everything, but the credit for nothing.

Ok. That is fair.

Bud has unquestionably been in charge during an era where revenues expanded quite a bit, and franchise values have shot up. For the current owners that's a great thing. For major league players that's a great thing.

The way it's been implemented hasn't always been a great thing for fans. It's more expensive than ever to go to a game, they have to pay taxes and cable/satellite fees to baseball whether or not they're fans, and if they happen to be a fan of a team like Kansas City or Baltimore or Milwaukee or Pittsburgh they have to put up with ownership groups that are happy making money despite dismal on-field performances. I'll revise my prior statement - that's the real sin of Bud's leadership. Even more than some lack of vision, he's de-coupled revenues and winning to a large degree. Teams have a clear path to profits that is completely divorced success on the field. The Marlins can and do lead the majors in profits despite a losing team with no stars and a fanbase in open revolt. All because of the revenue sharing and luxury tax plan that Bud was instrumental in crafting.

The owners, of course, love this. Or at least most of them. They realize that no matter how inept at fielding a team, or how tight they are with payroll they'll still rake in enough revenues from the central funds to stay profitable. Selig and the other owners have actually made it more risky to spend money and aggressively try to win, than it is to sit back and accept 70 wins and a big check from the Yankees.

[glenn__davis]

I'm not saying this is a good solution. I'm saying a lot of people are going to be unhappy with whatever solution they come up with, short of making the World Series a national holiday and giving everyone time off.

There's always DVRs and Tivo.

I would have loved to watch the end of last night's O's game, but I have to get up at 6:00. You can't please everyone all the time.

Oh, I know there's no perfect solution, and no matter what you do some people are going to be upset. But it stinks that kids on the east coast never get to see what late-inning postseason baseball is all about. I worry about the future of baseball because I don't see a whole lot of interest in the game in today's kids. I don't know not being able to see postseason games is a big factor in that, but it sure can't help.

I like BTerp's idea of 4:00 start times on the weekends. That should at least let the kids see one game. But it will never happen because of TV.

[DrungoHazewood]

I like BTerp's idea of 4:00 start times on the weekends. That should at least let the kids see one game. But it will never happen because of TV.

That sounds like a reasonable thing. Other sports have weekend afternoon games, including playoff games, all the time. Seems to work alright for them.

Baseball faces some of the problems that CBS, NBC, and ABC do. They're the old way of doing things, their demographics skew old, and they face vastly more competition than they used to. I won't be surprised if, in my lifetime, the concept of the "big 3" or "big 4" or whatever sports in the US becomes obsolete. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, movies, TV, video games, and stuff that hasn't even been invented will all be more-or-less niche products. We'll never return to a situation where one thing is dominant, or all kids want to be Brooks Robinson.

[Mark Carver]

Tell MLB where to stick it that the sun doesn't shine... tell them that the teams are named after colleges.

Angels = Lincoln Christian College and Seminary and Meredith College

Blue Jays = Elizabethtown College, Johns Hopkins University and 3 others

Braves = Alcorn State University, Bradley University and 4 others

and so, and so...

... get the point MLB?

[Why Not?]

He needs something worth taking credit for. I think there is very little of that for him. Especially being a puppet of the owners.

Every commissioner has been a puppet of the owners. That's the job. He's hired by the owners and paid by the owners to further their policies. The only commish who attempted to stand up to the clubs, Fay Vincent, was fired because of it.

[DrungoHazewood]

Every commissioner has been a puppet of the owners. That's the job. He's hired by the owners and paid by the owners to further their policies. The only commish who attempted to stand up to the clubs, Fay Vincent, was fired because of it.

That's not necessarily true. Landis was in open war with the owners for much of his term. Most commishes before Selig used their "best interests of the game" powers at least occasionally to smack down some owners. Fay Vincent got canned because he wasn't enough of a pawn. Even Bowie Kuhn got into fights with Charlie Finley, among others.

Selig is really the first baseball commissioner to be openly an advocate for the owners, without even a pretense of being independent.

[RShack]

Bud has unquestionably been in charge during an era where revenues expanded quite a bit, and franchise values have shot up. For the current owners that's a great thing. For major league players that's a great thing.

The way it's been implemented hasn't always been a great thing for fans. It's more expensive than ever to go to a game, they have to pay taxes and cable/satellite fees to baseball whether or not they're fans, and if they happen to be a fan of a team like Kansas City or Baltimore or Milwaukee or Pittsburgh they have to put up with ownership groups that are happy making money despite dismal on-field performances. I'll revise my prior statement - that's the real sin of Bud's leadership. Even more than some lack of vision, he's de-coupled revenues and winning to a large degree. Teams have a clear path to profits that is completely divorced success on the field. The Marlins can and do lead the majors in profits despite a losing team with no stars and a fanbase in open revolt. All because of the revenue sharing and luxury tax plan that Bud was instrumental in crafting.

The owners, of course, love this. Or at least most of them. They realize that no matter how inept at fielding a team, or how tight they are with payroll they'll still rake in enough revenues from the central funds to stay profitable. Selig and the other owners have actually made it more risky to spend money and aggressively try to win, than it is to sit back and accept 70 wins and a big check from the Yankees.

There's a fair number of things that Drungo and I disagree about... but we're on exactly the same page about this.

[RShack]

Tell MLB where to stick it that the sun doesn't shine... tell them that the teams are named after colleges.

Angels = Lincoln Christian College and Seminary and Meredith College

Blue Jays = Elizabethtown College, Johns Hopkins University and 3 others

Braves = Alcorn State University, Bradley University and 4 others

and so, and so...

... get the point MLB?

I agree about the "tell them to shove it" part.

If they just bought el-cheapo MLB-licensed hats, and then had block letters on their shirts, then I don't see that MLB would have a leg to stand on. (Of course, that's if we're talking about uniforms that consist of caps and t-shirts. If we're talking about full uniforms, with parents paying through the nose (in way or another) to support real-looking uniforms, then IMO the outrage-factor gets smaller.)

Anyway, can you imagine how PO'd people-in-general would be if the TV people decided to make a big stink about this?