Hello Again,
I read with great consternation that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was just granted a 3-year extension through 2009. This comes less than 3 months after he said that he wouldn't serve past 2006. Previously, he said that he wouldn't serve past 1998. What a politician he would make! In spite of his questionable leadership, baseball is in good, if not great shape. The NFL & NBA have clearly surpassed baseball in popularity and Selig must bear the blunt of the blame. If I were Commissioner (I would).....
Expand to 32 teams, and divide them into 4 eight-team leagues with two 4-team divisions each.....The first 8 expansion teams would make up the third league (Angels, Rangers, Mets, Astros, etc.) and the most recent 8 the fourth league.....Expand the playoffs to 12 teams.....Reduce the regular season to around 150 games.....Keep interleague play, it was long overdue when it was implemented.....Return All Star voting to the players, coaches & managers.....Implement revenue sharing a la the NFL.....That's what allows the Green Bays to compete on a level playing field with the New Yorks.....Make Shoeless Joe Jackson eligible for the Hall of Fame.....And lobby for the removal of KM Landis, Charles Comiskey, Cap Anson, and other scoundrels.....For better or worse, Pete Rose also should be eligible.....He did have more hits than anybody else.....I don't believe he ever threw a game.....Ban artificial surfaces & future domed stadiums.....Retractable roof ballparks are ok.....Give the team with the better record automatic home field advantage in all postseason series, including & especially the World Series.....Have more than one broadcast network televise games.....Charge a hefty relocation fee, say $25 million or so, to owners who want to move their teams.....Get Washington, DC back in the majors, Peter Angelos be damned.....Find a way to keep Montreal in, the players & fans there deserve better.....Require all teams to employ an organist.....Install a 20-second pitch clock behind home plate, a la the NBA's shot clock, and charge a pitcher with a ball if he hasn't thrown a pitch within that time.....Limit season ticket sales to 40% of each park.....Make the Designated Hitter optional for each game, but he must bat ninth in the lineup.....Otherwise, dump the DH.....Require all teams to have player's names on the back of their jerseys, even the Yankees.....Implement a yellow card-red card system a la soccer to discourage early ejections of star players.....Fans don't pay to see umpires.....Revive Ewing Kaufman's idea of a Baseball Academy.....Form a women's league in smaller markets, a la the WNBA.....Announce attendence figures as tickets used that particular game, not tickets sold or paid attendence.....Change the designation of "modern era" of baseball from 1900 to 1946.....I don't think pre-WW2 baseball records should be compared to present day.....The game was so different then.....Legalize the spitter & corked bats.....Eliminate the Retaliation Rule.....It was well-intentioned, but gives an unfair advantage to the team whose pitcher threw at somebody first.....Permanently ban for life any player found to be using steroids.....Require base coaches & ballboys to wear helmets.....Make teams either raise the first row of seating or the railing in outfield corner seats so that fans won't be able to grab a ball in play.....Suspend any player who deliberatly injures another for as long as the injured player is out.....Strongly encourage White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf to get the hell out of the game.....He virtually single-handedly caused the strike of 1994, that wiped out the season & the World Series.....He & Selig are bosom buddies.....Have the Commissioner host a weekly national call-in radio show.
Whenever Commissioner Selig does step down, I'll let Major League Baseball know of my availability! Play Ball!
Thank You, AOL, for not booting me this time!
And thank you for reading. As Always, Anne Alogy