42

YES, it is a clumsy means of honoring Jackie Robinson. YES, it is awkward, especially when some players don’t wear it (which has happened, and it spoiled the aesthetics of it, which were already suspect). YES, it is a good idea taken too far— for instance, a better idea would be to designate just one player on each team to wear 42 for the day, which could be an honor bestowed on the player who most exemplifies [fill in the blank with goodness and courage] as selected by the players and coaches and staff of each team. And YES, it is almost completely incoherent as a statement. I will pretty much concede all the criticisms lodged here.

Yet, as an amateur historian and the father of a young boy whom I want to teach a handful of enduring values (among them: courage, perseverance, and a willingness to not reject someone out of hand just because his name is Branch), I personally am ok with even clumsy gestures that remind new generations of Jackie Robinson and his story.

If baseball wants to continue to honor Jackie Robinson’s memory every April 15 (a noble idea, of course), perhaps they could actually put their money where their mouth is. Let’s propose that every home team on April 15 turn over the entirety of their gate receipts for that game to the RBI Program, so that there will be more Jackie Robinsons in the future.

Thoughts?

But one should expect nothing less from a man that has as his idol, Calvin Coolidge.

Most people forget that Selig was called out in Congress in 2002. He was basically called a liar by Forbes Magazine, and accused of same by members of the Congressional Committee. Of course being called a liar by a Congressman carries with it, its own particular brand of irony. Jesse Ventura, Governor of Minnesota at the time, sat next to him in the hearing and openly belittled him. He was crying poor mouth on behalf of owners and how some of the franchises were going to have to fold or file bankruptcy, including the Twins. You know, where Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser were banished in exchange for a 200 pound canker sore. But this quote from Calvin Coolidge is what adorns the conference room in his office suite:

Nothing in the world can take
The place of Persistence.
Talent will not; Nothing is more
Common than unsuccessful
Men with talent; Genius will not;
Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education alone will not;
The world is full
Of educated derelicts.
Persistence and Determination
Alone are omnipotent.

Well, talent he has little of. If you’ve heard him speak, genius he does not posses. He speaks as if his education was received at the University of Matchbook Cover. His manner, not to mention his hairpiece, carries with it all the sincerity of a Sham-wow commercial, but like the late night infomercial shill, Billy Mays he is persistent and relentless.

Anybody tuned in to Barry Bonds’ record tying homerun in San Diego watching the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, slouching, slack-jawed, with hands in pocket being demonstrably disrespectful, as Bonds circled the bases, would know that he must possess some sort of relentless and arrogant need to grasp and hold power and attention on himself, no matter how embarrassing. It was certainly not genius, talent, education and it was certainly not grace, class or style either that got him the Commissioner’s job or keeps him there, a vastly greedy and overpaid man. A job by the way that pays Selig almost as much as the Giants pay Zito. One of the few comparisons in which the Zito contract actually looks like a bargain. Persistence? Sure. Determination? Granted. But primarily scheming, plotting, treachery, and backstabbing. Actually not much different than most despots. Just ask Faye Vincent.

His so called tribute to “Jackie Robinson” is as phony as the radiant heating that was supposed to keep Giants fans warm at Candlestick in the 60s. It is a gesture designed more to draw positive attention to himself than it is to supposedly “raise awareness” of Jackie Robinson. Ask yourself. Who the hell in the USA over the age of 3 weeks isn’t “aware” of Jackie Robinson? Actually, is there a major league player living or dead that is more in the public conscious than Jackie Robinson other than perhaps Babe Ruth?

This is nothing more than a phony "look at me, see how progressive and compassionate I am, self-serving grandstand ploy that is part and parcel of his seemingly never-ending “temporary commissionerhip” Bullshit. Bud is a thief. Bud is phony. Bud is a liar. Bud never does anything that isn’t primarily for Bud.

I know this reads like a rant, but when the true weasels of the world, like Bud Selig stick their nasty little noses in where it is not wanted, it needs to be poked. The man is a disgrace and a coward interested only advancing his own personal greedy agenda, and lining the pockets of those who grant him his multi-million dollar annual paycheck