Dear Bud Selig

Dear Bud Selig, Major League Baseball Commissioner:

As  a lifelong baseball fan and one who might have played in a World Series had not a coach told  him he lacked only eye and coordination to become a great player,  I have a few comments about the recently ended season, including the playoffs.

1. The Wild-Card idea is terrific; it adds much excitement and tension.

2. The Colorad o Rockies were a miracle team to obtain the National League wild-card role. For example, if closer Hoffman of San Diego had not inexplicably blown two saves, they wouldn't have made it. The Rockies became N.L. Champs and it was no disgrace to lose the World Seeries to a superior Red Sox team.

3. The World Series games start too late for fans in the eastern half of the USA, and the games take too long to play.  Kids, upon whom the future of baseball depends, cannot be stimulated by long, slow games. Play more of the games in daylight. Devise some time-limits that will permit any 9-inning game to be completed in far less than three hours. Consult Buehrle of the White Sox in this matter.

4.  While tradition dictates playing the National Anthem before each game, I suggest a move toward variety during the 7th-inning stretch. How about the wonderful America the Beautiful for a change?

5.  While baseball continues to be a great game, there is a suspicion that greed has taken over in the major leagues. There should be more revenue-sharing. Incentives should be considered to make it more attractive for players to spend their major-league careers with one team.

6. Hooray for the Fort Myers Miracle!!

Yours truly,

Harry Gottlieb

Comments

[Ally]

Regarding point number 5: Greed manifests itself in the shameless hawking of products everywhere a television viewer's eye might fall. And speaking of shameless, the hateful Fox network prostituted itself (and that's no mean feat, given that Fox is a whore to begin with)to Taco Bell with its hawking of the free taco for a stolen base gimmick. At least Tim McCarver had the sense, after a sideline reporter interviewed the Taco Bell CEO in the stands, to muse "from Schilling to shilling."