Yale Bulletin and Calendar

May 5, 2000

Volume 28, Number 31

Baseball commissioner talks
about players' responsibility

Baseball is more than just the national pastime and a source of family entertainment -- it's also a social institution where high-profile players in the limelight have a professional and personal responsibility to be good role models for today's youth, said Major League Baseball commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig during a campus address as the first Morgado Fellow.

"One thing that we have in sports, whether or not we want to be role models -- we have a responsibility. It comes with the territory," Selig told an audience of about 100 people in Davies Auditorium of Becton Center.

"I believe we have a social responsibility and that road runs both ways," he continued. "Baseball has lived up to its end of it and I'm proud of that. ...There is nothing more important to me than the integrity of our sport. Without integrity, there is nothing."

Selig said baseball is so much a part of Americans' everyday lives that it acts like a barometer, with people using it to mark events in their own lives. "People say 'I remember when ...' or 'I was there when ...'" about special moments in their lives and in the game, he explained.

Responding to a question from the audience about the recent controversy involving Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker, Selig said the entire incident was unfortunate. "Your words attract attention; there are millions of people who hear them. It means you have to be held to a standard of social responsibility. You have to do what you believe is the right thing ... you have to protect the game in every way. I can't sit idly by while they are insulting it."

Despite intermittent controversy in the sport, Selig noted that baseball's popularity has been on the rise.

"We've been slow to change, but we have to be willing to make changes to bring interest back to the game," said Selig. He cited as examples the excitement generated by interleague play and the creation of regional rivalries that helped bring audiences back to baseball, but warned that the addition of more expansion teams during the rest of his tenure is unlikely.

The baseball commissioner, who has seen the opening of several new baseball facilities since he was elected to his post in 1998, said that new stadiums and renovations of older, inaccessible ones have been necessary to breathe new life into franchises that have grown "stale" or are low in attendance, noting that private-public partnerships to build new facilities, along with major contributions from baseball teams, apparently have been successful. Selig also pointed out that in the last 29 years no teams have relocated from their hometowns to new cities.

In answering a question about playing more World Series games in afternoon time slots, Selig said that surveys have shown the later a game is played, the larger the audience. He said even when playoff games were played on weekends in the afternoon, they drew less television viewers than night games.

Selig also said that the idea of a World Cup series -- between U.S. and Japanese baseball teams -- might soon be a reality, but he couldn't say exactly when it would take shape or when it could be played. He noted that American baseball begins in April and continues with the playoffs into October, leaving only the colder months to entertain the notion of a World Cup.

Earlier in the day, Selig had lunch with President Richard C. Levin, whom Selig named to his Blue Ribbon task force on the future of baseball. Selig was also the guest at an afternoon tea given by Calhoun College Master Dr. William Sledge and Associate Master Betsy Sledge. Sledge also introduced Selig to the audience in Davies Auditorium.

The Morgado family established the Morgado fellowship last year. Two family members are recent Yale graduates who were active athletes while on campus.

-- By Thomas Violante

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Conservationist's gift establishes environmental studies professorship

More attention to the environment is needed, EPA administrator says

Graduate students honor their mentors with a new award

Twelve individuals honored for improving town-gown connections

Mammograms lower rate of breast cancer recurrence, study finds

Talk marks opening of center for children exposed to violence

Scholar decries abuse of women to create pornography

Baseball commissioner talks about players' responsibility

Event examines life, work of controversial Yiddish writer

Student drama centers on play once charged with being obscene

Exhibit to explore how artists depicted Africa in 20th century

Satellite images aid study of environmental threats in Africa

Celebration of Russian literature on view at Beinecke

Architecture project benefits 'fragile' city neighborhood

Yale student groups honored for service to community

Yale Physicians Building to be city's newest art exhibit space

Graduate student scientists sharing their research at two-day symposium

Agrarian Studies marks 10th year with conference

In thanks,Yale physician receives Yankees baseball

English Department alumni will consider 'Prospects for the New Century'

Memorial service to celebrate life of John Blassingame

Divinity School Search Committee Correction

Campus Notes

Yale Scoreboard

In the News