Bud Selig became baseball’s acting commissioner in 1992 because the incumbent, Fay Vincent, actually had a backbone and he criticized the owners for colluding against players in free agency, saying, “You stole $280 million from the players.” The owners didn’t want the truth, they wanted a sock puppet.
I’m not going to spend time evaluating Selig’s way-too-long tenure on the throne. He’s retiring. Owners have nominated Rob Manfred as his replacement. Braves CEO Terry McGuirk likes Manfred, but as he said, “Rob’s going to have to change the wheels on the bus while it’s 60 miles an hour.”
Baseball needs more than new wheels. Here’s the fix-it list:
1. Parole Pete Rose: I've banged this drum before but it's appropriate to bring it up again, given the the fact it's the 25-year anniversary of Rose being banned (and therefore ineligible for the Hall of Fame). What Rose did — bet on baseball — never was worthy of excommunication. That would be true for any player, let alone for baseball's all-time hits leader. The difference between Rose and a player who used performance enhancing drugs to inflate his statistics is that Rose never cheated the game. Never. Those 4,256 hits did not come because he was worried about the Packers covering. The Dowd report concluded Rose bet on 52 Reds games. Evidence he bet against his team never was found, even if the lead investigator suspected as much. Rose didn't throw a game, as a player or manager. Was he a slimy, lying cretin? Yes. A gambling addict? Absolutely. But everything in the boxscore was genuine. He's been in the penalty box far too long.
2. Quicken the pace (Part I): Games are too long (average: 3 hours, 14 minutes). The sport is losing viewers (more on that shortly). One easy fix: Ban warm-up pitches. I've never understood this practice. In no other sport are players allowed to warm up when they enter the field of play. Basketball players don't come off the bench and take a few practice jumpers. Quarterbacks don't throw a few out routes, maybe a deep ball. Pinch hitters don't tell the pitch, "Hey, throw me a few practice ones first." A reliever can get ready in the bullpen. Pitchers can still have a few between innings because they're the equivalent of practice swings. Otherwise, play ball.
3. Quicken the pace (Part II): There's no need to mandate that hitters stay in the batter's box. If umpires instruct catchers to return the ball to pitchers immediately, don't allow pitchers to roam the mound between pitchers and actually enforce the 12-second rule between pitches, the batters can't stall. The website Baseball Prospectus reported in May that the average time between pitches this season, excluding mound visits and pickoff attempts, was 18.29 seconds. Too long. If a pitcher breaks the 12-second rule, call a ball.
• 4. SHORTEN THE SEASON: Traditionalists don’t want to mess with the 162-game season. But so many games de-emphasize their importance. Dropping to 145 games – effectively shortening the season by three weeks – would bring attention to pennant races quicker.
• 5. SEEK A YOUNGER AUDIENCE: The median age of the average World Series viewer last year was an all-time high of 54.2. I’m 55 and even I know that’s too old. The median age only 10 years ago was 48.4. More postseason games need to start at a time when younger viewers will watch. Dare we suggest even a day game now and then? Fox will brag that the 2013 World Series ratings for Boston-St. Louis were up 18 percent from the year before. What they won’t tell you is in 2012 they were a record low of 7.6, and that the World Series has failed to hit double digits in four of the last six years. In 2004, also Boston-St. Louis, the Series drew a rating of 15.8. The World Series is baseball’s centerpiece event. The Super Bowl, the NFL’s centerpiece event, has set viewership records four of the last five years and last January pulled in a rating of 46.4.
• 6. SHORTEN SPRING TRAINING: It’s six to seven weeks long. Slash it. Three weeks are plenty. We’re long past the time of players going to Florida to shed their beer gut.
• 7. FIND UNIFORMITY WITH THE DH: I’ve never liked the designated hitter. It’s one of the few areas where I’m a traditionalist. But it’s completely nonsensical to have two leagues with such a significant rules difference, especially in the era of inter-league match-ups. Add the DH in the National League or void it in the American but make a decision.
• 8. HALL OF FAME VOTING: It’s in the jurisdiction of the baseball writers association (BBWAA), of which I’m a member. Overhaul of the process, and I’d be fine if the result of that meant losing my vote. Clarity is needed, particularly in how players in the PED era are viewed. The commissioner should sit down with the Hall, BBWAA and officials and help craft new guidelines. Voting will still be up the individuals but at least guidelines will be in black and white.
• 9. FIX REPLAY: It’s monotonous. Honestly, I miss manager-umpire arguments. But it would be silly to dump replay when today’s technology allows us to determine if the correct call was made. The biggest issue is elapsed time. That partly stems from the manager’s (deliberately) slow walk onto the field while a coach views the TV replay. So eliminate challenges. Put a replay judge at every game and let him determine if a home run, foul ball or out needs to be reversed.
• 10. IT’S AN ALL-STAR GAME, STUPID: One of the dumbest decisions in the Selig area was having the All-Star Game dictate which league would have home field advantage in the World Series. In theory, a Minnesota hitter homering off a San Diego pitcher to win the All-Star Game effectively could give New York the home field advantage over Los Angeles. Sure. Makes sense. Here’s a crazy idea: Give the team with the better record home field. Return the All-Star Game to being a meaningless exhibition.
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