Selig? Retire? He's too valuable to the owners.

His job title is "Commissioner of Baseball".

While he does fill the role, Bud Selig should more accurately be referred to as "The Major League Owners' Financial Manager".

"What did you say?  Retirement?  No thanks."

The 77 year old Selig will be given a 2 year contract extension to remain commissioner.  A rumored announcement is to be made tomorrow.  This goes against everything Selig has said over the last few years.  Over and over again he has said that when his contract runs out, he is done.  Why did we think he would?  Every time his contract nears an end, he says he is going retire and he ends up staying on.

Bud Selig can go straight to hell.

Ok...in the WTF category...

As reported by the Daily Herald today:

The office of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is opposing legislation that would build a new spring-training facility for the Chicago Cubs.

Ok...this is the same Bud Selig that said the Cubs needed to stay in the Cactus League and opposed a move to Naples, Florida.

If the Cubs did have any serious thoughts about moving to Florida, Selig's statements just before the Cubs convention pretty much sealed the deal for the Cubs to stay in Mesa.

Between Selig and most of the other team owners in the Cactus League, it seems to me that they all want to have the benefits of having the Cubs in Arizona, but are completely unwilling to pay the price for it.

And even more interesting is the possibility that Naples might try to attract a team like the Brewers over the next couple years.  Hmmm?  Conflict of interest at all, Bud?

We had a comment on this site last month accusing Selig of trying to get a sweetheart deal for a new Brewers spring training facility...but I dismissed it since Selig supposedly has no ownership ties with the Milwaukee team anymore.  Is that really true, though?

Anyway, Bud Selig can kiss my ass. 

I'll repeat what I have said a number of times before...I honestly and truly believe that the Ricketts family would have preferred to move the team.  If people like Reinsdorf and Selig continue this bullshit, Florida might still win out!

Next on the Bud Selig legacy checklist, a Global World Series?

A couple days ago some news came out that the Japanese Baseball commissioner, Ryozo Kato, had started negotiations with Bud Selig for a global World Series which would pit the Japanese champ up against the traditional World Series champ.

Kato has stated that Selig would like to see this done before he retires in 2012.

This is yet another interesting, if not bizarre, item that has come up from the commissioner's office since Selig confirmed he would be stepping down when his contract is up in a couple years.

One thing this does confirm, though, is that Selig seems very concerned about what his legacy as commissioner will be.

Selig has been trying to expand the global reach of baseball for years.  The biggest success in this endeavor has been the World Baseball Classic (which has been a bit of a joke in the country).  The biggest failure has been the removal of baseball from the Olympics.

So now he wants to push this idea of a Global World Series.  On the surface, this seems like a good idea.

But would a major league team really want to risk playing what would amount to an exhibition series?  In the end, I don't see this working unless a significant amount of money was involved for the franchise that was playing it.

On top of that, you have to wonder if the players' union would actually go along with this.  From the ESPN story on the subject:

Officials of Major League Baseball and the players' association said Thursday there had been no discussion of such a plan. An agreement between management and the union would be necessary.

The other problem?  Well, I'm going to assume that if this were to happen, the Japanese team would play their asses off each year, as they try to gain the respect of the baseball world.  The American team would feel like they have nothing to gain or to prove. 

But back to the point here, Selig seems to be making a significant effort to secure his legacy.  Why?  Steriods.  He will be known as the man that oversaw the steriod era in baseball.  Selig has done much in his time as commisioner that hasn't been steriods related including the unification of both leagues, a new age of cooperation with the umpires, interleague play, the wild card, instant replay, the All-Star game/World Series home field advantage deal, the World Baseball Classic, and the new ballpark boom.

The truth is, whether you like these things or not, this is quite an impressive resume.  Selig shouldn't have to do any more to try to secure his legacy.  But because of steriods, he will probably try to push a number of new things through over his last 3 years.

This Global World Series is likely just one of a number of new things we will see in baseball before Selig's reign of terror comes to an end.