Bud Selig nailed two birds with one stone yesterday.
In a with ESPN, the baseball commissioner expressed his outrage that Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers would return to the mound seven days earlier than his MLB-imposed suspension had originally intended. Selig was distraught, disgusted that Arbitrator Shyam Das had ruled that the commissioner's penalty was too severe. Selig was appalled by the message that the ruling sent to players, reporters and fans. And, he said all of this, in bold, uncertain terms.
But, here's what he didn't say: that he's secretly delighted by the decision.
You see, by allowing Rogers to return to the field sooner than expected, Das discreetly pushed a soap box in front of Selig and asked him to climb aboard. Selig can now stand at the puplpit and talk about Rogers' inexcusable behavior, about the absurdity of the arbitrator's ruling and about the dangerous precedent the decision sets.
But, Das also got Rogers back on the field. And, just in time for a start in Boston, no less. By Rogers starting in Boston, baseball stayed on the newspaper's front pages. And, as a lead story on SportsCenter. And, as a topic of conversation on countless talk radio shows.
To recap, Selig got to make a stand against professional baseball players acting like sleep-deprived children. He got an All-Star back on the mound in a baseball-crazy city. (Incidentally, if I were Kenny Rogers, I may have thrown a temper tantrum when my manager proposed the idea of me starting in Boston. Are there more hostile crowds to pitch in front of? Did they launch Fenway Franks at him?) And, on top of that, he secured for his sport a spot in the national limelight.
Not a bad day's work. Even for a commissioner.
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