"During the past decade, Baseball has experienced a terribly disturbing trend. To put it simply, an increasing number of our Clubs have become unable to successfully compete for their respective Division Championships -- thereby making post-season appearances -- let alone post-season success -- an impossibility."

[Bud should know. His Brewers haven't made the postseason since 1982. Only the Expos have a longer drought -- and they had the majors' best record at the time of the 1994 strike. As for "inability to compete," if Montreal is hopeless, what does that make a team that over the past dozen years has won 25 fewer games than the Expos? Yes, that would be Bud's Brewers. To make this feat even more impressive, the Brewers had a higher Opening Day payroll in every one of those seasons.]

[When the Braves "made adjustments" by moving to Atlanta, Selig reacted by haunting owners' meetings for the next four years, begging and whining and pleading for an expansion franchise. Think he may have felt sad about the Braves' departure?]

"I honestly believe that we can get this done by the end of November."

[And I expect to announce my engagement to Julia Roberts before Christmas. We just have a few details to work out...]

"St. Louis is closer to Minneapolis than Milwaukee is," Selig said. "Are the (Boston) Red Sox going to benefit if Montreal is contracted? No. I don't think the Brewers would gain, either. It's so outrageous and not worthy of comment."

[Milwaukee is 338 road miles from Minneapolis. St. Louis is 619 road miles from Minneapolis, with no direct Interstate connection. In the same interview, Commissioner Bud called conflict of interest charges "childish" and "inane," even though he still owns about 35% of the Brewers and his daughter runs the team.]

"I know there are people in the Twin Cities who want to blame Carl [Pohlad], baseball, me, the owners or all of the above. But at some point in the past decade, despite 26 or so stadium proposals, there were chances to do something, and nothing got done. So there are a lot of people up there who have to look themselves in the mirror."

["If you refuse to yield to our stadium blackmail, it's your own fault. Blame the taxpayers for not handing the keys to the treasury to the richest man in the state."]

Okay, Maybe He's Not Dishonest, Just Stupid. Happy Now?

"Anyone who has a grain of understanding about this business realizes how absurd [a conflict of interest charge] is."

"For anybody who truly knows the commissioner, and knows his passion for the game of baseball and for the job that he has to do, and the trust he has of all the owners, they know he's always doing what's in the best interest of the game. Anyone who knows him wouldn't question [the possibility of a conflict of interest]."

Copyright © 2001 Doug Pappas. All rights reserved.

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