Commissioner Bud seemed pretty weak and off base when he started office. Has he improved, or have the relevant issues died down lately?...and is the PED issue properly addressed?

I think Selig gets WAY WAY WAY too much criticism for the job he's done as commish.

Steroids - I ding him pretty hard for this, but he's no more culpable than any other part of the problem, especially the media who are so sanctimonious now, decades after the fact. He's only one cog among media, players, union, owners and even fans.

1994 strike - He inherited the expiring labor agreement that led to it, and when you look at his whole tenure, his twenty years have had a lot more labor peace than the twenty years that preceded him

All Star game tie - Should receive no blame at all for this, the managers burned their bullpens and it's a damn exhibition. No matter what he decided to do, he was gonna catch hell for it. Have position players pitch? Then critics blame him for the game being a farce. Have the pitchers continue to pile up innings? Then critics blame him for abusing the guys.

Gallaraga - Call on field stands...bad calls are part of the game

He's also done a good job on lots of things
- Wild Card
- About 20 new parks built in his tenure
- Record attendance/revenues
- Limited Replay
- Despite the perception, better parity than NBA and the NFL
- Maybe later than it should have been, but baseball's first drug testing policy
- Interleague play
- Not always smooth, but he did turn the Expos into the Nats, which is an improvement

bud selig is a fucking idiot.

I'm trying to recall the impressions that I had of Selig when he first took office. Seems I resented the obvious imbalance created between the Owners Union (make no mistake, they have a Union) and the Players Union when an Owner became commissioner. I recall that he talked and acted very biased to begin with... although, I can't remember the minute details of all the specific issues of the early 90's.
I agree with your assessments mentioned, although the Galaraga game should serve as the beginning of a larger move toward taking more umpiring mistakes out of the game with attempts at further development of some robotic enhancements... maybe Questec or similar designs. Also , we need center field, not off-angle, TV cameras for balls and strikes.
I agree with you about culpability of almost everyone involved in destroying the believeability of the game with rampant PED's use. But I think Bud should have been the leader in ending that issue 15 years or so ago, before everyone who loved baseball was inclined (read forced) to subtly accept it or turn their back on the game...not to leave out Fay Vincent, either. Bart Giammati prob didn't have enough time in office to properly address that issue. I had the feeling a the time that he could have made a difference with those issues considering his folded- arms handling of Rose.

Is nearly impossible to suggest that Selig, despite his mistakes, has done a decent job overall and gets way more negativity thrown his way.

I mean, who can argue with well reasoned arguments like "bud selig is a fucking idiot"?

"Dave" is jdb, so there's no need to argue with him.

It would be nice to have a convenient purge button when the atmosphere is fouled. Like a vent fan in the bathroom.

Well i dont think selig could have gotten worse if he tried. just sayin..

Dizn,

Oh my goodness, that was amazing. ROFL.

Joe