ShareThisSomeday, perhaps, baseball will find itself so troubled that it again realizes it needs a commissioner.A real commissioner.An independent commissioner.A no-nonsense commissioner who truly will act in the best interest of a once-great game -- not kowtow to the players union, not front for the owners, not allow the ratings-first television networks to run the show.Until then, however, we've got Bud Selig, a used-car salesman who continues to sell the game's soul to the highest bidder and shamelessly put the bottom line at the top of his list of priorities.We're stuck with a bumbling, overmatched commissioner who has spent too much of his tumultuous tenure explaining why something went wrong.First, there was the cancellation of the 1994 World Series because of a players strike. Then the steroids scandal. Then the All-Star Game that ended in a tie because both teams had run out of pitchers.And, now, there's this debacle.More bad history.Another example of Selig scrambling to find a solution for a problem that should've been addressed beforehand.On Monday night, just two days after allowing a rain-delayed World Series game to begin after 10 p.m. in the East for the first time ever -- it ended at 1:47 the next morning -- Selig ordered that Game 5 between the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies be suspended in the middle of the sixth inning because heavy rain had rendered unplayable the field at Citizens Bank Park.It marked yet another dubious first during Selig's reign: Never before had a World Series game been suspended because of weather.Not that Selig can be blamed for the heavy rains, or the gusting winds, or the cold temperatures.It's late October in Philadelphia.Those things happen.To be sure, though, Selig wasn't merely a victim of circumstance.Because he let it happen.Selig can't control the weather, but he's in full control of the World Series - at least from an administrative standpoint. And despite the gloomy forecast, despite the rain that began to fall during the Rays' batting practice and worsened as game time approached, he gave in to greed and gave the go-ahead.He allowed the game to start.He allowed the Phillies to waste their best pitcher, Cole Hamels, on a game that had no real chance of getting to the ninth inning.He allowed the game to continue beyond the fourth inning, when the field already was unplayable, unnecessarily risking the safety of players from both teams.Worse, Selig jeopardized the integrity of this World Series.The rain was pouring down. Puddles were forming on the infield dirt. The basepaths had turned to slop.Baseball wasn't meant to be played in such miserable conditions, especially when you throw in the whipping wind and temperatures in the 40s. Truth is, if this game were played in April or June or September, it would've been stopped . . . if it ever started.But this is the World Series.This is when the sponsors pay big bucks to the networks. This is when the networks pay big bucks to Major League Baseball.So the networks -- in this case, Fox -- call the shots.They set the dates.They set the start times.They're the reason World Series games start so late and often go past midnight, preventing kids from watching more than a few innings on weeknights.The fans? The folks who actually care about the game? The people who pay top dollar to go to the ballpark, including those poor saps that sat through that monsoon Monday night? Nobody cares about them.Not Selig.Not the networks.It's all about prime-time programming and charging prime-time rates for commercials.And now, because Selig didn't act in baseball's best interest, because he didn't postpone the start of a rain-soaked game that never should've been played, Fox gets at least one more World Series night.Not Tuesday night, however.The weather was even worse.But maybe Wednesday.If so, and if the Rays win, Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday night at Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field.Then, if necessary, Game 7 is set for Friday.Halloween night.That's usually a lousy night for TV, because of trick-or-treating and high school football. And, according to the ratings thus far, this could be the least-watched Fall Classic ever.But it would be a fitting conclusion to this nightmarish World Series -- particularly for Selig.He has been masquerading as a baseball commissioner since 1992.(Ray McNulty is sports columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. Contact him at -ray.mcnulty@scripps.com or on the Web at www.tcpalm.com.)
Bumbling Bud strikes again
Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 14:22
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