The Hot Corner

Commissioner Must Stop Bad Winter Moves

2008-12-18T18:04:00.001-08:00

There's plenty of precedent for the Commissioner of Baseball to block team activities "in the best interests of baseball." It's just that THIS commissioner has no spine.

The New York Yankees, brandishing their billions like Las Vegas gangsters, are rounding up all the best players, literally trying to buy a pennant and bury their rivals before the 2009 season even starts. CC Sabathia AND A.J. Burnett? Gimme a break. How about letting the other teams bid on one or two quality players for a change.

More precedent for Bud Lite to consider: in 1939, the American League passed a rule barring the pennant-winning team from making trades (there was no free agency then or it certainly would have been included). Sure enough, the Yankees failed to win the 1940 AL flag, losing out to the Detroit Tigers and enabling baseball to maintain some level of parity at the time.

Had Burnett gone to the Braves, as had been rumored the day before the Yankees literally stole him, he would have been the No. 1 starter. Now he's no better than No. 2, and possibly No. 3 if Wang returns from injury. But Burnett, admitting he was no all-around athlete, said he chose the Yanks because he didn't want to bat or run the bases, as he would have had to do in the DH-less National League.

Hey, Mr. Commissioner, that's ANOTHER reason to dump the DH. How many do you need?
Get rid of the game-distorting rule, expand rosters to 26, and you've given the Players Association 16 more jobs than they have now. Even Donald Fehr, with nothing to fehr but his own name, would have to shut up for a change.

The winter moves thus far show clearly that baseball needs to realign -- putting the New York, L.A., and Chicago clubs in one league, perhaps with Boston as well, and all the have-nots in another. Otherwise, the competition is grossly unfair.

And, by the way -- here's another job for this do-nothing commissioner: nullify the Dodger signing of Rafael Furcal, sanction the agency that arranged him to sign with Atlanta and then pulled the plug, and return him to the open market, with the caveat that he CAN'T sign with Los Angeles. There's precedent for that move too: ask Tom Seaver, originally signed by the Braves before he was eligible and then thrown into the hat for open bidding (with the Braves banned from participating).

For a commissioner who claims he knows history, we've seen precious little proof from Bud Lite.

Clint Hurdle blew the All-Star Game

2008-07-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

That idiot Clint Hurdle blew the All-Star Game by (a) inserting that horrible Billy Wagner in the 8th inning with the NL up 3-2, two outs, and nobody on base, and (b) leaving Brian McCann -- who should have been the STARTING catcher, on the friggin' bench the whole game, til the bottom of the 15th. He could have moved Russell Martin to 3rd, where he has played in the majors, instead of putting Cristian Guzman there (Guzman had NEVER played 3B in the majors) and therefore kept Martin in the game in case something happened to McCann. But his LH bat would have helped the NL, especially in Yankee Stadium. I hope the Rockies finish dead last -- would serve Hurdle right.

The lousy legacy of Bud Lite

2008-06-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

William D. Eckert's main claim to fame is gone. Bud Selig has replaced him as the worst commissioner in baseball history.

Although the 30 club owners have learned to tolerate one of their own because their turnstiles are spinning, Selig has probably damaged the game beyond repair.

Never mind that he looked the other way for 16 years of the steroids era -- allowing all of the game's great records to be twisted and demolished by athletes who couldn't hold a candle to the great record-holders of the past.

Selig has taken a broom and swept out everything traditional about baseball.

The league presidents are gone. The umpiring staffs are merged. And the integrity of the leagues has been lost with the advent of interleague play.

The best teams almost never reach the World Series. But teams that play well from June to October are rewarded with a ridiculous system that has produced five World Champions that didn't even win divisional titles.

Voting for the All-Star Game is a farce -- even without the involvement of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove -- and the schedule is even more disrespected.

Leagues have different sizes and play under different rules. Divisions also have different sizes, creating 6-1 odds against winning for teams of the National League Central but only 4-1 odds against winning for teams of the American League West.

AL pitchers that don't bat all year do bat in interleague games on NL fields. And for every "good" game (like Yankees-Mets, White Sox-Cubs, or Angels-Dodgers), there are dozens of meaningless games (like Royals-Phillies or Blue Jays-Giants). Interleague play is conveniently scheduled to occur just as schools let out, masking true fan interest. But it's still obvious fans interest is gone. They would rather see divisional rivals fight it out then twiddle their thumbs for a publicity stunt that outlived the novelty eons ago.

Ditto the All-Star Game. After fans are encouraged to vote 25 times on MLB.com or through computerized ballots distributed by the fistful -- especially in big-market cities -- baseball has no business stating that this once-cherished July exhibition has an ounce of integrity left. Giving the winning league the homefield advantage is just a gimmick to get viewers, who are far smarter than the TV honchos who start the game too late and cram in too many commercial breaks.

The only excuse for starting at 8:30 EDT is that Bud Selig's relatives in Milwaukee get to see the game at an almost-reasonable 7:30 CDT. It doesn't matter to them that millions of youngsters on the East Coast will be asleep long before the game ends -- if not put to sleep earlier by the bombast of FOX analyst Tim McCarver. He's the prime example of why -- with few exceptions --- ex-ballplayers should not be allowed into the broadcast booth.

If Selig had a spine, he would follow the 1957 precedent of Ford Frick and veto half of the fans' lineup choices. The Cub fans are stocking the ballot box this year, foisting Alfonso Soriano and two rookies named Geovanny Soto and Hideki Fukodome on unsuspecting fans everywhere.

Here's a message for the ballot-stuffing bleacher bums: if we wanted to watch a Cubs game, we would get XM Satellite Radio or the WGN superstation. The purpose of the All-Star Game is supposed to be a match between the best players of both LEAGUES.

Maybe these ballot-twisters worked for Barack Obama -- there was something fishy about his ability to win the most delegates to the Democratic National Convention without winning the most popular votes. It's a repeat of the 2000 election, when the best candidate lost.

But the best candidate loses often. George W. Bush was the best candidate for commissioner in 1994, when he told Bud Selig he wanted the job. But Selig turned him away, stating an owner shouldn't be commissioner and sending Dubya down a more partisan political path.

Don't get me wrong: Bush has been an absolute embarrassment as president, probably outranking Nixon as the worst occupant the White House ever had. But he would have been a helluva lot better commissioner than Bud Lite.

The best thing Selig did during his tenure was go to Israel on vacation. The worst thing he did was to come back.

Where or where is the mandatory retirement age for this guy? He's into his 70s now -- almost as old as Julio Franco -- and never had a prime to pass. The sooner baseball dumps his sorry ass, the better the game will be. If it can ever recover.

Bud is no Bud to Baseball Fans

2008-02-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

If Bud Selig meant what he said about accepting "complete responsibility" for the steroids scandal, he should have done the honorable thing and resigned. After looking the other way during his 16-year Reign of Error, he embarrassed himself and the game, then compounded the felony with his testimony before Congress. The fact that owners rewarded him with a three-year contract extension the following day shows that they are willing parties in a fraud perpetrated on the baseball fans of the world. Sure, more money may be coming into club coffers (how else could they pay Bud Lite $14.5 million a year?) but the once-sacred reputation of the game is long gone. To make matters even worse, Buddy boy promises that fans "won't recognize the game" by the time he leaves office. For all who care about the game, that day can't come soon enough.

Dump Dubya? Not a Bad Idea

2007-05-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

Jackie Mason was right when he said, "George W. Bush is a great speaker. It's just that English is not his field."

Neither is politics.

Dubya still insists that the only mistake he ever made was trading Sammy Sosa.
Whom does he think he's fooling?

As owner of the Texas Rangers in 1994, Bush wanted to be commissioner of baseball. But when he revealed that ambition to Bud Selig, then chairman of the executive committee searching for a new commissioner, Selig told him an owner shouldn't be commissioner.

Four years later, Selig swallowed those words and took the job himself, even though he was the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. A wise wag wrote that hiring Selig to search for the new commissioner was like hiring O.J. to find the killer.

During his nine-year tenure, the best thing Selig did was to go to Israel on vacation. The worst thing he did was to come back.

His reign of error has included breaking up each league into three divisions (an idea owners rubber-stamped by a 29-1 vote, with Bush the only dissenter);
maintaining leagues and divisions of different sizes; cheapening the integrity of the World Series by foisting interleague play upon an unsuspecting public;
foolishly awarding home-field advantage in the World Series to the league that wins the All-Star Game; allowing baseball's showcase events (All-Star Game, playoffs, World Series) to start so late that the fans of the future can't stay up to watch the finish; allowing leagues to operate under different rules (the DH in the American League only) but eliminating league presidents and combining umpire staffs; and presiding over a 232-day player strike ended by the courts.

Should we add cancelling the 1994 postseason and ushering in the steroids era
as baseball looked the other way in an effort to repair the strike damage?

Even Bush could have done a better job.

Rebugged by Selig, Bush turned to politics, ran for governor of Texas, and placed himself on the fast track to the White House -- even though he had to steal two elections to get there (thanks to brother Jeb and the Supreme Court in 2000 and his Ohio campaign chairman, who just happened to be the state's voting commissioner, in 2004).

"Hail to the Thief" has never sounded better.

Even though Ralph Nader tipped five states to Dubya in 2000, the voting public should have known better. Al Gore may have been more wooden then but was light-years ahead of Bush in experience, integrity, and intelligence. But the voters in the west and south decided they liked a drinking buddy better. Judging by the current low ratings Bush is pulling in the polls, I bet even the rednecks are sorry they voted for him.

His hanging-judge days as governor in Texas should have been a good hint; this "pro-life" president appointed a tobacco lobbyist (Tommy Thompson) as Secretary of Health and created all kinds of excuses for launching an unprovoked war that has killed thousands -- and may kill millions more because new terrorists are created every day the war lasts.

The Sunnis and Shiites agree on only one thing: they want the Americans out of Iraq. We are an unwelcome occupying force and will never know when to leave. We may have won or lost already but how will we know? We don't even know whom we're fighting. We do know this, however: Islamic militants from other countries have found a welcome training ground.

Given that we've already knocked off Saddam Hussein, our mission is Iraq really is accomplished. Better we should return the National Guard to Kansas, to clean up the tornado damage, and even to Louisiana, where the post-Katrina situation remains critical. I was at a City Hall rally in New Orleans in January where picketers held signs that said, "Rebuild New Orleans, Not Baghdad."

If Bush and Cheney really want a war, Iran would be a good place to start. Unlike Iraq, Iran is a serious threat to Western Civilization -- and will become much more dangerous if allowed to build nuclear bombs. But the U.S. and European Union are behaving like they are Neville Chamberlain and this is 1938 all over again. Appeasement won't work against a madman. Not then and not now.

Bush just doesn't want to hear it. In fact, he doesn't want to hear anything that agrees with his personal point of view. He has surrounded himself with yes-men
who reflect a tiny, right-wing mindset completely out of step with the rest of the country. The man is an embarrassment, especially in the wake of the worldly Bill Clinton. All the sympathy the United States received from around the world after Sept. 11 has been squandered.

Dubya hasn't done himself any favors at home either. Instead of firing CIA director George Tenet after the intelligence agency ignored warnings of 9/11, he awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ditto Tommy Franks, the general selected as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq because he's a long-time Bush crony from Texas. Franks let Osama bin Laden and Omar escape but wound up with the presidential medal too.

Why is incompetence routinely awarded in this administration? Maybe because the incompetence level starts at the top.

No wonder there's a website called impeachthem.org. If the Republicans can waste millions of taxpayer dollars, not to mention months of valuable time, trying to dump Bill Clinton because of an apparent sexual escapade, they should be shaking in their boots that the Democrats will find cause to ax Bush for sending so many young men to the deaths for no apparent reason. For my money, they could dump Cheney too and make Nancy Pelosi the first female president -- even if it happens on the last day of the Bush Administration.

George W. Bush is as stubborn as Lyndon Johnson, as paranoid as Richard Nixon, as naive as Jimmy Carter, and as stupid as Ronald Reagan. When Bush and Cheney seized the White House, they ushered in an error of government by Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and Big Business. To hell with the good of the country.

The Iraq War is not worth one more American life. Nothing will come of staying put except many more shattered families and many more Islamic terrorists. My solution is to withdraw now and forever hold the peace. That's what the Iraqis want and that's what the Americans want. Just ask.

Oh, yeah: Bush doesn't want to hear the answer.

A Braves Fan in New York

2007-05-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

Although I live in the Metro New York area, I've been a Braves fan for the last 50 years.

It started in 1957, when I was 9 and the Milwaukee Braves beat the Yankees in the World Series. All my friends rooted for the Yankees, but I figured the Braves must be the best team because they beat the Yanks in the World Series.

The Dodgers and Giants were out of the equation because they were going for the West Coast after the 1957 season, leaving New York with only one team.

By the time the Mets came along as a 1962 expansion team, I was thoroughly hooked on the Braves. They had Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn, and Lew Burdette -- players of prominence who helped the team stay in contention throughout its 13-year tenure in Milwaukee. The Braves won a pennant in 1958, tied for first in 1959 before losing a playoff, and finished second to Bill Mazeroski's Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960.

My reward for staying loyal through many lean years (only one title of any kind between 1970 and 1990) was the 14-game championship streak that started in 1991. No team in professional sports has ever finished first in its division so many years in a row.

It was hard enough to root for the visiting team when it was losing, but even tougher once the Braves and Mets became perennial rivals in the National League East.

There were memorable moments from the losing years, though:

Watching Hobie Landrith hit a pop fly home run down the short right-field line at the Polo Grounds to beat Warren Spahn in the bottom of the ninth inning, 3-2. It was Hobie's only home run as a Met and deprived Warren of a certain win
Seeing Satchel Paige play catch in front of the Braves dugout at Shea Stadium, which the Mets opened in 1964. Paige had been signed as a coach so he could qualify for the players pension plan.
Bragging to friends that Hank Aaron would break Babe Ruth's career home run record 10 years before it happened
Wondering why the Braves tried to make catchers out of Rico Carty and Earl Williams
Getting angry every time radio talk show guys mentioned Willie, Mickey, and the Duke but left out Hank -- the greatest player in baseball history.

Today, it's a battle of Big Money vs. Good Scouting. The Braves, blessed with baseball's best farm system, keep replacing departing veterans with great kids, not only from their own affiliates but also from other teams (the trade that sent Adam LaRoche to Pittsburgh for Mike Gonzalez and Brent Lillibridge is the latest example, since Lillibridge is the likely heir to Edgar Renteria when his salary becomes unaffordable).

The Mets are trying to buy a pennant, while the Braves are trying to win one the old-fashioned way. Sure, they still depend upon Chipper, Andruw, and Smoltz but they're doing just fine with Francoeur, McCann, and Kelly Johnson. The biggest question is what to do with Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who not only has the longest last name in baseball history but talent to match.

With McCann signed for the next six seasons, maybe Salty could play first base. He's a switch-hitter with power and enormous potential.

The biggest development of 2007 from an Atlanta perspective is the total turnaround in the bullpen. After "leading" the National League last year with 29 blown saves, the Braves have managed to switch their bullpen from worst to first. Even when closer Bob Wickman went down with a bad back in April, the tandem of newcomers Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez prevented any recurrence of the late-inning losses that plagued last year's team.

Even with three starters out -- Mike Hampton, Lance Cormier, and Mark Redman -- the Braves entered Mother's Day weekend in first place, albeit by a slim margin over the power-packed Mets.

My guess is that youth will trump age as the weather warms. The Mets are just too old, with El Duque, LoDuca, Alou, and others already slowed by injury and the pitching too dependent on retreads like Jorge Sosa and Aaron Sele. My guess is that pitching in the World Baseball Classic in March of 2006 deprived Sosa of pitching enough innings that spring and caused his catastrophic season (3-13 with the Braves and Cards after a 13-3 year in 2005). The Mets, desperate for arms, took a chance -- just as they did with the disastrous Chan Ho Park. You win some and you lose some.

Although talk radio hosts in New York are bemoaning the slow starts of David Wright and Carlos Delgado of the Mets, wait til Andruw Jones starts finding his stroke in Atlanta. The Braves led the league in home runs last year and should do so again. Coupled with Tim Hudson's comeback, an airtight bullpen, and welcome addition of Kelly Johnson at the top of the lineup, the Braves are likely to start a new streak of divisional titles this year.

You heard it here first.

The unfriendly skies of United

2007-05-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

I despise United Airlines. I avoid it like the plague, unless it is the only game in town. Unfortunately, that is sometimes the case.

Less than two weeks after I reluctantly booked United for a roundtrip flight from Newark to Palm Springs, an automated message arrived on my phone regarding changes to my carefully-chosen flight itinerary. But the machine was so slow in delivering its message that my tape, which is programmed to take 60-second messages only, hung up before the entire message was received.

That meant I had to call United, which is practically impossible if it means finding a toll-free number on their website.

I finally reached an agent with a severe language barrier and was able to get assigned seats on my four flight segments. But when I inquired about getting into an exit row, she said (1) I could only get an exit row seat at the airport or on the internet 24 hours in advance of departure but (2) that all exit row seats were taken anyway.

If it's only possible to book exit row seats within 24 hours of departure, how did exit row seats disappear a month in advance? Also, isn't United one of those money-hungry carriers with the audacity to charge a fee for extra-row seats?

Unwilling and unable to find the phone number again -- since I still didn't know the revised flight schedule -- I sent an e.mail to the media relations department at United. After all, I am a long-time member of the travel media.

Not surprisingly, I received no reply. And still don't know my schedule, since United -- in its infinite wisdom -- apparently decided to change it on a whim.

Mind you, this is the same airline that routinely delays, cancels, or diverts flights, rarely giving passengers any explanation, and accumulates more posted internet complaints that any other carrier. Those complaints catagorize United employees as uninformed, uncaring, arrogant, and rude. True service with a sneer.

When a friend flew United recently but also had to take another airline on the same trip, United lost her luggage and claimed it had no record of it. After a series of endless phone calls, most of them unreturned or answered by machines, the bag miraculously appeared. I'm convinced it was the OTHER carrier -- AirTran -- that found it. By the way, the same problem occurred on the return portion of the trip.

All the while, United and AirTran insisted they had no reciprocal baggage transfer agreements with each other. Nobody knew their ass from their elbow,
but that's getting to be par for the course in the airline industry. Only JetBlue and Southwest, the two top discounters, seem to be exempt.

No wonder people hate to fly -- even before they head to the airport.

http://www.DanSchlossberg.com

Atlantic City Smoking Ban is a Sham

2007-05-11T14:57:00.001-07:00

May 11, 2007

If Atlantic City casinos think new restrictions on smoking will help business, they're wrong: thousands of nonsmokers will still keep their distance.

Smoking has been banned in only 75 per cent of all casino space -- an idea as ill-conceived as confining chlorine to one-quarter of a public pool.

New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the Union, passed a smoking ban for bars and restaurants a year ago but knuckled under to pressure from the casino industry, exempting the 11 Atlantic City casinos.

Then the Atlantic City Council got into the act, first planning to enact their own smoking ban for casinos but caving in when the gambling establishments whined that a ban would hurt business.

Never mind that thousands of employees, as well as guests, will have their lives placed in jeopardy by the 1600 known carcinogens found only in passive tobacco smoke.

The city council, in its infinite wisdom, decided on a partial ban -- even though research indicates that 80 per cent of adults in New Jersey like the total ban that applies to bars and restaurants.

While it's true that casinos will be required to build enclosures designed to completely segregate smoking sections, there's no way to keep passive smoking from invading the space of nonsmokers (a.k.a. those who prefer clean air over cancer).

Some 18 states -- and at least as many foreign countries -- ban smoking in public places and more are joining the bandwagon every day. But the casino industry claims a total ban would cost them 3500 jobs and up to 20 per cent of their revenues.

I disagree: everywhere else smoking bans passed, business improved because nonsmokers who never went out before suddenly became regular customers.

It happened in New York, Los Angeles, and even tony Aspen, where diners found lines shorter because smokers who once lingered over coffee and cigarettes vacated the premises more quickly.

Nonsmokers still have mountains to climb: even in states where restaurant smoking is banned, outdoor seating areas are still filled with people who think nothing of puffing away. Florida, a top winter tourist destination, comes to mind immediately.

Why should smokers be able to enjoy the benign climate, water views, and wildlife while nonsmokers are confined to inside areas? At the very least, laws should be passed to make all or most outdoors seating areas smokefree as well. Smokers can do what they do in regular restaurants: take their filthy habit outside, away from any place where passive smoke might intrude on the nose of nonsmokers.

As for the 32 states that still allow smoking where food and drink are served, what's wrong with you?

Get with it: this is the 21st century. Stop catering to the whims of the inconsiderate minority.

How to load planes faster

2007-05-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Hot Corner, a title I picked because I'm a baseball writer and a travel writer by profession. The Hot Corner will be hot because it will be controversial -- filled with opinions not everyone will like. On the other hand, maybe those same opinions are exactly the ones you haven't seen anywhere else in the media. Without further ado, here's the first entry (drum roll, please...):

***************************************************************************

May 11, 2007

Airlines can do a lot of little things to improve the passenger experience. And it won't cost them a dime.

In fact, it would vastly improve the travel experience for virtually all of their passengers.

When boarding the plane, airlines should instruct all families traveling with small children to sit in the rear of the aircraft. That would accomplish several things:

1. Screaming babies would be confined to a relatively small area that would not disturb adult passengers hoping to sleep or read

2. Young children would be right next to the restrooms that need so often, eliminating the common practice of running up and down the aisles

3. The boarding process would be expedited because families that stow much excess paraphernalia
in the overhead compartments wouldn't hold up the line at the front of the cabin

4. Unloading the plane would also be faster

Airlines like JetBlue and Southwest, which depend upon quick turnarounds, would actually save time, resources, and revenues by expediting arrivals and departures.

While families with children might not like the idea of hiking all the way to the rear, the vast majority of passengers would applaud such a move. Yet not a single carrier has tried it.

Nor has any carrier instructed its flight attendants to add the following to their pre-flight spiel: "For the safety and comfort of all passengers, please be sure to cover your mouth when coughing, sneezing, or clearing your throat."

I've actually had to wear facemasks during flight to protect myself from other passengers who couldn't or wouldn 't follow basic rules of hygiene.

Friends and family are constantly complaining of getting sick on planes. Most of them, they're lucky: it's just a cold or flu. But there have been instances of passengers catching tuberculosis, a highly contagious disease spread by airborne droplets, on airplanes.

Too bad the check-in process doesn't allow passengers to pick the "no-flu" section. But there would have to be a no-baby section too. At least cell phones are still banned during flights.

Oh, yeah, one other thing: airlines need to serve healthier food. That means fat-free milk for morning coffee and hamburgers instead of cheeseburgers. That would be cheaper anyway, so why not?