MLB commissioner Bud Selig made his farewell stop in Pittsburgh this week and he has liked what he has seen.
Selig, who is in the final months as commissioner, is proud of the way the Pirates have reemerged as contenders. He even kept tabs on the club during their historic run last season that broke a 21-year losing streak and playoff drought.
“I have to tell you, me sitting and watching what was going on here last fall was something that i’ll never forget,” said Selig. “I’m not ashamed to tell you that I had goosebumps watching what was happening. The emotion, the excitement. Everything about it was just great and it continues now. In fact, I walked out onto the field today and I feel like I’ve been here because every night I will sit and watch games and I spent a lot of time watching the Pirate games”
This wasn’t the case throughout baseball when Selig arrived in 1992 when only a handful of teams were in contention year in and year out. There was also the widespread problem of performance enhansing drugs in the late 90’s and early 2000’s that tainted the game. It took a long time to get out of that slump, but Selig sees improvement, especially with the Pirates and this reemergence of teams that has only helped the face of the game.
“We went through a long period in baseball where no matter what we thought and what we said, we didn’t have the kind of competitive balance that we needed to have.” said Selig. “I’ve told the [Pirates] front office today and i’ll tell you today that of all the different manifestations of changing the economics of the sport, dealing with all these things in the 90’s and the 2000’s on up till now, and I’ve told Clint that [the Pirates] are maybe as dramatic evidence of anything of how this sport has changed and how we’ve dealt with our problems and quite frankly, we solved our problems.”
Another reason for the recent successes of smaller-market teams is the change in the economics of the Major Leagues. Selig believes enough changes have been made in order to bring some balance back to the game. A game that was run like the golden age until the early 1990’s.
“The changes in the economic system, as I said to people today, in the 90’s, whether we wanted to admit it or not, most clubs, 20-25 clubs, didn’t have a chance to win,” said Selig. “There have been a lot of changes over the years. Sometimes slower than I like. Revenue sharing was the biggest thing, obviously. This was a sport that in 1992, when I took over, was still doing business like they did in 1940. It just wasn’t working, but we are where we are today.”
Selig believes more can be done, especially when the new commissioner comes in, but he thinks enough “mechanisms” have been put into place where teams like the Pirates can keep up with bigger teams and contend.
“It’s revenue sharing, it’s a whole series of other things,” said Selig. “I call them mechanisms we built in that provides hope and faith in as many places as possible and it has worked tremendously in Pittsburgh. In the Pirates organization, there is a lot of credit to be given. It’s one thing just to change the economics and it’s another thing to develop talent. It’s another thing to know how to do it. It’s another thing to develop patience to do it. Patience sometimes is very, very difficult. They deserve a lot of credit.”
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