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Selig: Rays A Great Example

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By IRA KAUFMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - Two weeks after Alex Rodriguez acknowledged he used a banned substance to enhance performance, Commissioner Bud Selig said the sport's popularity is at an all-time high and he lauded the Rays as an example of what's right with baseball.

Selig's remarks came Tuesday evening at the Governor's Baseball Dinner at Tropicana Field, where Hall of Famers Al Kaline, Robin Roberts and Wade Boggs shared a dais with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

With Rays manager Joe Maddon in attendance, Selig praised the Tampa Bay organization for symbolizing baseball's new-found parity.

"A year ago, only the most die-hard of Tampa Bay fans could have imagined that their team could make the playoffs, let alone reach the World Series," Selig said. "It was a storybook season, and storybook seasons are possible in Major League Baseball because we now have an economic system that works and gives baseball great competitive balance."

Gov. Crist, who revived this dinner last year after a lengthy hiatus, said the 16 teams training in Florida will have a $450 million impact on the state.

"It is so special, the love affair between baseball and Florida," he said. "May it continue for years and years to come."

Selig said baseball has "more parity than any other professional sport and greater than at any time in our great history," and saluted Florida's historic role as a spring training destination.

"Throughout the game's long and distinguished history, this is where each season begins," Selig said. "Dating back to 1888, 35 cities in Florida have hosted spring training. This sport today is more popular than it's ever been, and it will set records again in future years."

Roberts, 82, who lives in Tampa, said baseball's resiliency has been tested during a period that has been defined as the steroids era.

"It's been amazing," said Roberts, who won 286 games during a 19-year career that began in 1948. "With all the bad stuff that's been going on in this great game, players and fans still can't get enough of baseball.

"Who knows what we would have done in my time if steroids had been available? I'd like to say it wouldn't have been an issue, but let's be honest - you never really know."

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