[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 92 (Monday, July 13, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8068-S8069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AMERICA'S GAME HAS A NEW LEADER

 Mr. CONRAD. On July 9, 1998, Major League Baseball selected 
Bud Selig as its ninth Commissioner in the history of baseball.
  After serving as the Chairman of Baseball's Executive Council for the 
last six years, the owners picked from their own ranks and bestowed the 
formal leadership mantle on Alan H. ``Bud'' Selig.
  For the last 28 years, Bud has been the driving force behind major 
league baseball in Milwaukee, from bringing baseball back in 1970 to 
building a new convertible stadium to open in 2000.
  In September of 1992, Bud was picked to fill the void created by the 
departure of Fay Vincent. From the day he took the reins of the 
Executive Council, he was faced with serious issues that had eluded 
solutions. The first task was securing a new collective bargaining 
agreement with the Players Association. That agreement is an essential 
element in the growing trust and cooperation that is now visible 
between the players and the owners.
  If labor peace was not a big enough challenge, Bud was instrumental 
in securing a revenue sharing agreement, and in implementing the 
popular wild-card playoff system and interleague play that the fans 
have found very exciting and enthusiastically attend. All of these 
improvements have helped bring back fans in numbers that reflect a 
healing of the game after the strike.
  Those accomplishments are truly important but they merely set the 
stage for the agenda items that await the ninth Commissioner of 
Baseball. Most people who follow baseball believe Bud will have to 
address several tough issues: realignment and scheduling; elimination 
of payroll disparity; and marketing and promotion of baseball both at 
home and internationally. This last issue is one that also provides an 
avenue to continue to work with the Players Association to grow the 
game in a way that the fans, the players and the owners benefit.
  Bud was responsible for bringing Paul Beeston from the Toronto club 
into the management ranks of baseball as the Chief Operating Officer. 
With Paul to tend to the day to day operations in the new and 
reorganized New York offices, Bud will be free to focus on the 
important tasks that lie ahead. The challenges that Bud now faces will 
require him to draw on the legendary consensus building skills that he 
has so effectively used in the past to continue to provide the unified 
leadership that will put baseball on a path to move into the next 
century.

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  As a life long baseball fan, I wish him well.

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