Podcasts about commissioner bud selig

December 22nd Show Notes Born on December 22, 1862 in East Brookfield, MA, Player, manager, scout, general manager, owner — Cornelius MacGillicuddy (Connie Mack) — did it all. For more than half a century, he owned and managed the Philadelphia A's — nearly their entire existence. He built two dynasties that won a total of five World Series titles. Mack was often described as the “grand old gentleman of the game,” but he wasn't above stretching the rules to gain a competitive advantage. He was rumored to have kept frozen baseballs handy to insert into the game when his pitchers were on the mound. He also employed a special coach who stationed himself in center field at Shibe Park to steal signs from opposing teams. Connie Mack pieced together a tremendous baseball team in the first decade of the 20th century, built in large part, around his famous “$100,000 Infield.” At the time, Mack claimed that even that lofty dollar-amount would not pry the four star players away from him. In 1911, John “Stuffy” McInnis was switched to first base to replace the aging Harry Davis, a fine player. McInnis, who earned his nickname because he had the “right stuff” as a young ballplayer in Boston, joined Eddie Collins, Jack Barry, and Frank Baker to form the greatest infield of the era. His A's from 1929-1931, had a team second to none, which featured Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, Lefty Grove, George Earnshaw, Rube Walberg, and Jack Quinn. Mack holds the all-time record for most games managed (7,755), most games won (3,731), and most games lost (3,814). His record of 50 years managing one team, and 53 years overall will most likely never be broken. Tom December 22, 1944 – Future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton is born in Miami, Florida. Rivaling Tom Seaver as the finest pitcher of the 1970s, Steve Carlton won the National League Cy Young Award in 1972 and 1977 before capturing another two trophies during the early portion of the ensuing decade. One of the greatest left-handed hurlers in the history of the game, Carlton trails only Warren Spahn in victories for a southpaw, with 329.   He also ranks fourth on the all-time strikeout list with a total of 4,136. The first pitcher to win four Cy Young Awards, Lefty, as he came to be known, surpassed 20 victories on six separate occasions, winning at least 16 games another four times. Over an 18-year stretch beginning in 1967, he failed to post at least 13 victories just once. During that same period, he also finished with an earned run average under 3.00 eight times, struck out more than 200 batters eight times, and threw at least 250 innings 13 times. Carlton remains the last National League pitcher to compile as many as 25 victories in a season, as well as the last pitcher from any team to throw more than 300 innings in a season.   December 22, 1980 — The Boston Red Sox mail Fred Lynn and Carlton Fisk their new contracts two days after the Basic Agreement's December 20 deadline. Boston's blunder makes their All-Stars eligible for free agency. Fisk will land in Chicago after a legal battle and complete a Hall of Fame career over the next decade plus. Lynn will end up traded to California with Rick Burleson, and play 11 more seasons. However, he will never have the impact he did in Boston.   This was a dark era in Boston, similar to recent times as they let a Hall of Fame player slip away, as well as trading away the soul of the team. It took several years for them to become competitive again, when Roger Clemens would arrive in the summer of 1984.     December 22, 1999 — In an interview in Sports Illustrated magazine, Atlanta Braves P John Rocker offends virtually every race and ethnic group in a hateful outburst. Community leaders, media, management, coaches, and teammates alike call for action to be taken against the lefthander, who had 38 saves for Atlanta this past season.   In a story published in the December 27, 1999 issue of Sports Illustrated, Rocker made a number of allegations stemming from his experiences in New York City and answered a question about whether he would ever play for the New York Yankees or the New York Mets.   I'd retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-wracking city. Imagine having to take the 7 Train to the ballpark looking like you're riding through Beirut-next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing… The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners. You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?   During the interview, he also spoke of his opinion of the New York Mets and their fans:   Nowhere else in the country do people spit at you, throw bottles at you, throw quarters at you, throw batteries at you and say, “Hey, I did your mother last night—she's a whore.” I talked about what degenerates they were and they proved me right.   The interview was conducted while driving to a speaking engagement in Atlanta. The reporter, Jeff Pearlman, wrote that during the interview session, Rocker spat on a Georgia State Route 400 toll machine and mocked Asian women. Also, Rocker referred to Curaçaoan teammate Randall Simon as a “fat monkey”.   Although Rocker later apologized after speaking with Braves legend and Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and former Atlanta mayor and congressman Andrew Young, he continued to make controversial remarks. For his comments, Commissioner Bud Selig suspended Rocker without pay for the remainder of spring training and the first 28 games of the 2000 season, which on appeal was reduced to 14 games (without a spring-training suspension).   December 22, 1953 –Jack Dunn III officially turns over the name “Orioles” to the St. Louis Browns, who recently were acquired in November 1953 by a syndicate of Baltimore business and civic interests led by attorney and civic activist Clarence Miles and Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.   His family had successfully operated the International League Orioles franchise for years in Baltimore, Maryland. The original Orioles, an AL charter member franchise eventually moved to New York in 1903 to eventually become the Highlanders, and then the Yankees.    The move to Baltimore was ushered in with the arrival of Brooks Robinson in 1955. They experienced their greatest success from 1966 to 1983, when they made six World Series appearances, winning three of them (1966, 1970, 1983). This era of the club featured many future Hall of Famers who would later be inducted representing the Orioles, such as third baseman Brooks Robinson, outfielder Frank Robinson, starting pitcher Jim Palmer, first baseman Eddie Murray, shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., and manager Earl Weaver. 

Today's word of the day is ‘9/11' as in remember September 11, 2001. It's been 20 years. We've told this story before, but it's good mentally to continue sharing these stories. Working in baseball during this time — let me explain how MLB acted when Commissioner Bud Selig heard the news. (23:10) Review: Untold - Crime and Penalties. (27:55) Red Sox player Hunter Renfroe went on a radio show yesterday and spoke out against MLB. He alleged that Major League Baseball told the Red Sox to stop testing for Covid. This during an outbreak where 9 players are on the Covid list. MLB denied this. The Boston Red Sox are pissed. What happens now? (35:30) Marcel Ozuna will be suspended. It's going to happen. He was facing felony charges for physically assaulting his wife. We all need to be better. (39:30) NPPOD. (45:40) NPDS Survivor Pool Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of their strange and ultimately futile renegotiation of this season of COVID-19, and with the looming CBA negotiations next year, we brought in a heavy hitter for this one. Jon Pessah is one of the founding editors of ESPN the Magazine, and the acclaimed author of two books on baseball which will frame our discussion. The first, is The Game: Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball’s Power Brokers. A behind-the-scenes history of the business of baseball from the tenure of early MLBPA chief, Marvin Miller, to the Rob Manfred/Tony Clark era, The Game focuses particularly on the 1994-1995 lockout and strike through the lens of Commissioner Bud Selig, Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner, and MLBPA chief Don Fehr. The book is comprehensively researched and sourced, the product of hundreds of interviews with all the major players, and a tour de force exploration of the games behind the game. As a result, Pessah is uniquely situated to understand the power structure and dynamics behind major league baseball, and their evolution to the present day. We talked about the current strife, how all of this is a product of relatively recent history, and look ahead warily to next year’s expiring collective bargaining agreement. Second, is the biography, Yogi: Life Behind the Mask, which was just released in April. Again the product of hundreds of interviews and years of research, the biography unpacks the man behind the myth and places one of the greatest players of all-time in his rightful context as the true hero and force behind the classic Yankees’ teams of the 50’s and 60’s. For the final 20 minutes or so, we chatted about the life and times of one of the more enigmatic players in baseball history. Circumstances dictated we do this by phone, so please forgive the sound quality and occasional car passing in the background. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a week away, Aaron has a lot to talk about. The newlywed is back and ready to talk all things sports. He jumps from the NBA to college football and college basketball before answering your questions and welcoming former MLB commissioner Bud Selig to the show.

Broadcasting live from Yankee Stadium before the 2008 All-Star Game, Mike Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo stayed later than their show was scheduled to end to speak with then-Commissioner Bud Selig. As it turned out, it was the second-to-last show Mike and Chris did together before their show ended. To listen to the segment from July 15, 2008, click on the audio player below.

Fewer African-Americans are playing in Major League Baseball today than two decades ago. The percentage was 8.5 percent on this season's Opening Day rosters. Commissioner Bud Selig announced on Wednesday the formation of a task force to tackle the issue of on-field diversity. New data, though, demonstrates that the decline in African-America players, while steep, isn't as precipitous as widely believed. The accepted wisdom is that the high-water mark was reached in 1975, when it was reported that 27 percent of big leaguers were African-Americans. But exhaustive research by Mark Armour, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, shows that the actual number never exceeded 19 percent. "To be fair, the numbers have dropped,'' said Armour. "I believe the numbers have dropped from 18-19 percent, which is what they were for about two decades. "From the 1970s through the '90s, the numbers were in the high teens. Now they're half that," said Armour, who writes software for the Environmental Protection Agency. "What I determined, and I [analyzed data from 1947, when Jackie Robinson made his debut] up to 1986 ... is that the number never got to 20 percent. The black-player number, counting all dark-skinned players, was in the high 20s for a period. But not the African-American number. All the press stuff that comes out every April compares the African-American numbers from today with the all-black-players number from the '70s. And that's where they make their mistake." http://m.mlb.com/news/article/44425610/study-decline-in-number-of-african-american-players-in-mlb-overstated

In 2008, when entertainment magnate Lalit Modi launched the Indian Premier League, he took a title that was new to the world of cricket: Commissioner. Modi’s idea for the structure of the IPL had American origins. He had studied in the United States in the mid-1980s, where he encountered the model of professional teams not as clubs rooted to their communities but as franchises held by wealthy owners, and thus saleable for handsome profit. In American professional sports, each cartel of these franchises is led by a single, powerful executive. Roger Goodell of the NFL and David Stern of the NBA represent the model of the Commissioner as CEO: they punish players, coaches, and even team owners for violations of rules, but more importantly, they work to increase the reach and revenue of the league and its teams. As Lalit Modi recognized, a league led by a single Commissioner, rather than a fractious governing board, ensured that decision-making would be streamlined, negotiations with sponsors and networks would be straightforward, and profits for all of the owners would increase. The model of the league Commissioner comes from America’s oldest professional team sport: baseball. Amidst scandal in the game and rancor among team owners, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed Commissioner in 1920 and given extensive powers, in an attempt to save baseball from itself. The title of Andrew Zimbalist‘s book, In the Best Interests of Baseball: Governing the National Pastime (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), refers to the mandate that Landis and his successors received from the owners: they were to ensure that the game would not be sullied by the corruption of players or the greed of owners. But there was one problem: baseball’s commissioners were appointed by and served at the pleasure of the team owners. In the decades following Landis’ appointment, there was constant struggle between the holder of the office and the owners who paid his salary over the power and role of the Commissioner. The story that Andy tells in his book is the evolution of this baseball institution, from Judge Landis to current Commissioner Bud Selig, a former team owner who now governs the game in the interest of the owners. Bud Selig has been much maligned by baseball fans, including the host of this podcast. But Andy offers a new view of the Commissioner. The Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College, Andy is the author of many books on the economics of baseball, and he has served as a consultant on various matters related to baseball, for teams, municipal councils, and even the Office of the Commissioner. He has been a strong critic of Selig, but his overall appraisal of the Commissioner is favorable. Baseball is stronger and more stable now than it was twenty years ago. The question is: what will happen when the current, strong Commissioner steps aside? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2008, when entertainment magnate Lalit Modi launched the Indian Premier League, he took a title that was new to the world of cricket: Commissioner. Modi’s idea for the structure of the IPL had American origins. He had studied in the United States in the mid-1980s, where he encountered the model of professional teams not as clubs rooted to their communities but as franchises held by wealthy owners, and thus saleable for handsome profit. In American professional sports, each cartel of these franchises is led by a single, powerful executive. Roger Goodell of the NFL and David Stern of the NBA represent the model of the Commissioner as CEO: they punish players, coaches, and even team owners for violations of rules, but more importantly, they work to increase the reach and revenue of the league and its teams. As Lalit Modi recognized, a league led by a single Commissioner, rather than a fractious governing board, ensured that decision-making would be streamlined, negotiations with sponsors and networks would be straightforward, and profits for all of the owners would increase. The model of the league Commissioner comes from America’s oldest professional team sport: baseball. Amidst scandal in the game and rancor among team owners, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed Commissioner in 1920 and given extensive powers, in an attempt to save baseball from itself. The title of Andrew Zimbalist‘s book, In the Best Interests of Baseball: Governing the National Pastime (University of Nebraska Press, 2013), refers to the mandate that Landis and his successors received from the owners: they were to ensure that the game would not be sullied by the corruption of players or the greed of owners. But there was one problem: baseball’s commissioners were appointed by and served at the pleasure of the team owners. In the decades following Landis’ appointment, there was constant struggle between the holder of the office and the owners who paid his salary over the power and role of the Commissioner. The story that Andy tells in his book is the evolution of this baseball institution, from Judge Landis to current Commissioner Bud Selig, a former team owner who now governs the game in the interest of the owners. Bud Selig has been much maligned by baseball fans, including the host of this podcast. But Andy offers a new view of the Commissioner. The Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College, Andy is the author of many books on the economics of baseball, and he has served as a consultant on various matters related to baseball, for teams, municipal councils, and even the Office of the Commissioner. He has been a strong critic of Selig, but his overall appraisal of the Commissioner is favorable. Baseball is stronger and more stable now than it was twenty years ago. The question is: what will happen when the current, strong Commissioner steps aside? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices