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A Conversation With Commisioner Bud Selig

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 16, 2008

What is your top memory of Yankee Stadium?

I really have a lot of them, but none will surpass July 30, 1949. It was my 15th birthday. I was a huge Yankees fan, and they were playing the Chicago White Sox. We were sitting in the upper deck. Before the game started, they brought a huge birthday card onto the field. I turned to my mother and said, "How could you do this to me, embarrass me like this?" Well, it turned out that it was Casey Stengel's birthday, too. That's who the card was for.

You've pushed for new ballparks all over the country, lobbied for them, explained why they were necessary. But you didn't push hard for a new Yankee Stadium, did you?

I think that's fair. I spent a lot of time on other stadium deals. I have to give the Mets and the Yankees credit. I was in the loop, but overall, in terms of energy spent, yes, both New York teams were among the easier ones, for me.

This is the sixth year of the World Series homefield advantage being determined by the All-Star Game winner. How do you feel it's going?

I feel even better than I did when I first did it. There's an intensity in this game that was missing. You had guys leaving by the fifth or sixth inning. But last year, when the National League rallied in the ninth inning, I saw every player in the dugout, watching and cheering. People say, "You ought to give the advantage to the team with best record." We can't do that, for pragmatic reasons. We can't wait that long to work on it.

Television ratings haven't really picked up with the new format.

I didn't do it for the TV ratings. I did it to restore the intensity of the game. Before we did this, I had guys like Ron Santo and Hank Aaron coming up to me and saying, "The All-Star Game meant so much to us." They wanted me to do something.

Two years ago, you said that your wife was bored by the length of the Home Run Derby. Why haven't you made her - and a lot of fans - happy and shortened it?

Well, I certainly want to keep my wife happy. I think the advertising people like it. The TV people clearly like it. The fans clearly like it. The only thing I'll tell our people is to move it along as quickly as humanly possible.

What is your feeling on Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez choosing not to compete in the Home Run Derby?

The Home Run Derby is a great honor, and I would hope that everyone who is asked, would compete. But I'm not going to comment on any one player.

Let's talk about the general state of the game. You're now signed as commissioner through 2012. What sort of goals do you want to accomplish in that time frame?

Just keep us going. We recently hit 40 million in attendance. Pick up the pace on internationalization. To keep the game at the pace it's on now. To continue to have labor peace. We spent many decades off the tracks with that, but we've been getting along pretty well lately.

Have you been made aware of Joe Buck's comments on baseball? (Buck told ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd that he rarely watched baseball, and that he found it to be slow.)

Yes, I have. I'm very protective of the image of the game. I have a lot of faith and confidence in Joe Buck, who comes from a wonderful baseball family.

The worst of the Steroids Era appears to be behind us. Congress is pretty much leaving you alone now. Are you now comfortable about your role in what happened?

I am, in this regard: There are people who can say we were slow to react. But the minor-league testing program is in its eighth year. We've banned amphetamines, which many people will tell you had even more of an impact than steroids. We have the toughest testing program in American sports.

I know that you were among the people who didn't like the George Mitchell investigation, but many people have been complimentary of it.

I was afraid of nothing that could have come out.

At the congressional hearing in January, Congress finally got both you and Don Fehr to take accountability for what happened. Are you comfortable with that notion, of taking accountability?

Absolutely. It's only fair that you must take credit or blame for everything that happens under your watch. That's my job as commissioner. I'll always accept that responsibility.

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