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Selig Deserves The Asterisk

12. February 2009  - Published by Dan Clasgens

Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig continues to prove he's one of the biggest schmucks in all of sports. 

In the wake of the latest A-Rod and Miguel Tejada scandals, Selig has once again buckled under the pressure. You would think a guy that will bring home $18 million this year would be able to work under pressure. Still, Selig has allowed a season to be cancelled, an All-Star game to tie, and has been the man running the show when steroids threatened the very integerity of the game that he is supposed to be ensuring.

The laughable leader of baseball told USA Today earlier this week that he might be suspended for admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs,

"It was against the law, so I would have to think about that," Selig told the paper in his first comments since Rodriguez's admission. "It's very hard. I've got to think about all that kind of stuff."

Rodriguez would be the first to serve a suspension without testing positive during the penalty years. The move would likely be hardly protested by the player's union since the substance was not banned until 2004.

Selig said he also is considering reinstating Hank Aaron as baseball's home run king in the record book. Barry Bonds broke Aaron's record of 755 home runs in 2007 but is scheduled to stand trial March 2 on charges he lied to a federal grand jury about performance-enhancing drugs.

"This is breaking my heart, I don't mind telling you that," Selig said.

You have to be kidding me. Trust me, I will be the first to agree that the record is tarnished but how can you change just one record. You have to look at all of Bonds' records. Let's not forget about the ones that Roger Clemens has either.

Selig said was that he was "not dismissing" re-instating his friend, Hank Aaron, as baseball's all-time home run king, while admitting that "once you start tinkering you create more problems."

Bill Madden sounded off on the matter in Thursday's New York Daily News.

"But this he can do, under the commissioner's all-encompassing "best interest in baseball" powers. One of his predecessors, Ford Frick, did just that in 1961 when he ruled that Maris should have an asterisk next to his one-season record of 61 home runs because it was done in 162 games as opposed to Babe Ruth establishing his record of 60 in 154 games in 1927. I actually think Selig would make a statement for the integrity of baseball if he came down on these steroid cheats where it hurt them most: the record books. But as far as threatening to impose punishment on Rodriguez for something he did while baseball was still a Wild West Show, that reeks of desperation," Madden wrote.

If anybody is going to get an Asterisk it should be Selig himself. Every accomplishment seeked during his tenure should be looked at under a special light.

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Comments

jimmy d
jimmy d
2/12/2009 6:43:44 PM #
Bud Selig is a hypocrite, plain and simple. He knew this was going on and only after the government (and Jose Canseco of all people) pulled the curtain back to reveal Selig pulling the levers on his man-made monsters, now he's heartbroken. Please spare me Bud. Let's put an asterisk next to your reign as commissioner. The steroids aside, Selig has been the single worst commissioner in all of professional sports. Factor in the steroids and he's the Matt Millen of commissioners. His sport has lost ratings, lost revenue and lost fans. He benefited from pumped up players mashing balls into the stratosphere. Now he's sorry. I think Selig has hurt the game of baseball way more than steroids have.
2/13/2009 10:43:52 AM #
Schmuck and hypocrite are big words... don't they apply in almost equal measure to most in their profession, however?  You should see the corruption and the hypocricy in the Philippines.  Ouch!
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