Commissioner Bud Selig

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig sparked a lot of excitement in Washington and Northern Virginia recently when he labeled the area "the prime candidate" for a relocated franchise. So why did his remarks generate such a muted response from the Orioles' front office? To hear the Orioles tell it, a second major-league team in the region would do serious harm to one of the American League's soundest franchises, but club vice chairman Joe Foss countered Selig's surprising comments with a very polite recitation of the Orioles' objection to a Washington franchise.

Major League Baseball apparently remains committed to disbanding two franchises, but commissioner Bud Selig hinted yesterday that the industry's controversial contraction plan probably won't be implemented before the 2002 season. "Baseball will contract," Selig said, after owners huddled for the second time in three weeks at the O'Hare Airport Hilton Hotel outside Chicago. "I can't give you a timetable today. Some things are out of our hands." The owners gathered to receive an update on the plan to reduce the number of franchises, but the only decision announced yesterday was that Selig's term as commissioner had been extended through 2006 by a unanimous vote of the 30 clubs.

PHOENIX - Baseball commissioner Bud Selig repeated yesterday that "all options are on the table" in the industry's attempt to achieve economic balance, and refused to rule out the dissolution of one or two teams before the start of the 2002 season. "Can it be worked out for 2002?" Selig said. "I can't tell you. I wouldn't rule it out." Ownership officials have been floating the idea of contraction as a possible solution to the large- market/small-market quandary that has troubled Major League Baseball for the past couple of decades, but it could only be accomplished in time for next season if management can cut a side deal with the Major League Baseball Players Association before full-scale bargaining begins on a new labor agreement.

WASHINGTON - Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said yesterday that he remains committed to finding an economic framework that will bridge the huge revenue gap between Major League Baseball's richest and poorest teams, but he stopped well short of predicting another game of hardball with the Major League Baseball Players Association. Selig, speaking before a luncheon crowd at the National Press Club, restated the need for greater economic parity among the 30 major-league clubs and reasserted his commitment to find a solution that would restore hope to fans of the game's struggling franchises.

Yes, he does have the votes for his realignment plan, commissioner Bud Selig said Wednesday. After Selig postponed an owners meeting scheduled for June, a baseball lawyer said the he did not have enough votes to adopt the plan that would move Arizona to the American League and Tampa Bay to the National League, among other elements. "I do have the votes," Selig said by telephone from his Milwaukee office. He postponed the meeting to early July, he said, to explore other possible alignments and schedules before making a final decision.

NEW YORK -- News of a unanimous vote of major-league baseball owners to cede control of their Internet broadcast rights back in January was glossed over in many media circles, but not so fast, said commissioner Bud Selig. Indeed, Selig, speaking this week at a seminar on sports on television and radio, believes that the action and the unanimity of the vote itself have important implications for baseball's future. "Just the thing we did [in] January this year ... would have been unheard of five or 10 years ago," Selig said.

When volatile Atlanta Braves relief pitcher John Rocker delivered a verbal assault on New Yorkers, "foreigners" and homosexuals in the pages of Sports Illustrated magazine recently, a lot of people thought he should have had his head examined. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig thinks so, too. Major League Baseball announced yesterday that Selig has ordered the young pitcher to undergo a psychological evaluation before the Commissioner's Office determines whether he will be subject to disciplinary action for his politically incorrect comments.

DENVER -- Interim commissioner Bud Selig all but acknowledged yesterday that he will accept the role of permanent commissioner when baseball owners meet tomorrow in Chicago.Selig, who has held the office on an interim basis since September 1992, clearly has the support of the required 75 percent of ownership. He resisted earlier attempts, but finally agreed last month to a regular term. His approval tomorrow at a special ownership meeting at the O'Hare Airport Hilton Hotel is considered a formality.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Colorado Rockies owner Jerry McMorris said yesterday that the search for a permanent commissioner of baseball could take a significant step forward this summer.McMorris, who heads ownership's commissioner search committee, briefed Major League Baseball's ruling Executive Council last night as the owners began their three-day quarterly meeting at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort.He is believed to be working with a list of candidates that includes at least five names, but indicated that it may be a lot shorter when the owners meet again in June.

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball Players Association director Donald Fehr and management negotiator Randy Levine announced last night that a deal has been struck to end baseball's protracted labor dispute, but interim baseball commissioner Bud Selig so far has refused to acknowledge or endorse it.Fehr and Levine hammered out the final compromises on Thursday, but the owners must ratify it by a 75 percent vote. That likely will happen in the next few days, but Selig isn't willing to say the four-year labor dispute is over until it's over.