Bud Selig, Bad Man

Did you ever know someone, or see someone on television who just made your skin crawl? I mean, every word out of their mouth? Glenn Beck and Mitt Romney do it for me. Just so there are no cries of partisanship, left-leaners Keith Olbermann and Rick Sanchez are also skin-crawlers for me. And Nancy Grace.

So how does this relate to baseball? I was watching a clip of commissioner Bud Selig today, and I forgot how much of a horrible human being he is. He is, in this man’s opinion, one of the worst people out there. And it had nothing to do with what he was saying — in an answer to a question about whether MLB should pull the All-Star game out of Arizona because of the state’s new immigration law, he yammered on about baseball’s fine record of minority hiring.

The exchange was an example of what kind of despicable person Selig is. Instead of simply answering the reporter’s valid question, Selig smugly avoided it, and answered a question no one asked.

Smugness and arrogance is Selig’s MO. Lying too. Remember when he was called to testify before Congress about baseball’s finances, he looked the members straight in the faces and lied, saying everybody was losing money? It was during this hearing that New York Rep. Anthony Weiner said the best thing ever uttered during a boring Congressional hearing. Speaking sarcastically about Selig’s less-than-successful stewardship of the Milwaukee Brewers, Weiner said, “Yeah, when the Brewers come to town — that’s a  good time.” That wiped the smug look off of Selig’s mug.

And when he graced Congress with a second appearance, this time during the steroid hearings (left), Selig said he had no idea steroids were running rampant in his game. No, of course he didn’t. How could he? It’s not like balls were flying out of ballparks in record numbers, and players looked more like massive bodybuilders than baseball players.

Of course Selig knew. Everybody knew. But owners were making too much money to care, and Selig does whatever the owners tell him to do. Of course he does — he was one of them. Even when he was a commissioner. How is it that the commissioner could also be the owner of a team, yet act independently for the good of the league? There is no way. Of course, Selig told the world that he had nothing to do with running his fine ball club, that his daughter was taking care of things. Another lie. It was absolutely shameful that Selig’s “daughter” owned the Brewers for 13 season while Selig was running the league.

Selig knew how to take care of his friends. When his buddy and fellow owner Jeff Loria wanted out of Montreal and couldn’t sell the team, Selig said, “don’t you worry about a thing.” The league bought the team, Loria was allowed to buy the Marlins from Selig’s other pal John Henry, and Henry was allowed to buy the Red Sox from his longtime friends, the Yawkeys. The league ended up owning the Expos/Nationals for four and a half seasons. How can a league own a team and allow the team to run independently? It can’t. Another shameful episode under a shameful man.

Have you noticed everything Selig did helped small-town teams, like his own team? How much money did Selig’s “daughter” make before Selig finally did the right thing and sold the Brewers? And with all of the revenue sharing and other small market improvements, Selig’s team was much more valuable, allowing him to make even more money on the sale.

You can tell a lot about a person by the words they choose to say, specifically words like “I” and “me” and “mine.” Selig paid a visit to the Mets broadcast booth last season, and I lost track of how many times Selig arrogantly referred to himself. Just listen to the guy, and try to get you skin not to crawl. I’d put in a link, but I don’t want him fouling up my site. Bad enough I had to use photos of him.