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DETROIT - In Commissioner Bud Selig's annual midsummer chat session with members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Tuesday, it was what he didn't say that had the most import for St. Louis baseball fans.
Busch Stadium No. 3, which will open next year, almost certainly will be the site of the 2009 All-Star Game.
When questioned about whether the awarding of All-Star Games would revert to the alternate-year American League-National League format in 2008, Selig said that it would. He said that after All-Star Games are played in National League stadiums in 2006 (Pittsburgh) and 2007 (San Francisco), the 2008 All-Star Game would be played in an American League city, as would the 2010 All-Star Game.
The prevailing theory in St. Louis, one not discouraged at all by Major League Baseball officials, was that the Cardinals' ownership would prefer 2009 for an All-Star Game so as to have more of the proposed Ballpark Village on display - although 2008 had been an option. It isn't anymore, and one highly placed baseball source, when asked if St. Louis would have the 2009 All-Star Game, replied, "They've got it." Advertisement
That depends, of course, on whether Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., signs off on it, but DeWitt almost certainly won't wait until 2011 for his next chance.
In other Selig-related discussion topics, the commissioner said he was confident that Cuba would join the 16-team field for the first World Baseball Classic next March.
Selig said he also was confident that the WBC would be a huge success. "Anything new in this sport is always very, very debatable," he said.
"I still remember the first year after we passed the wild card (proposal). What a pounding I was taking, that I was ruining the national pastime. I shudder to think where we would have been the last five years without the wild card. There is no doubt in my mind that the World Classic will be as constructive, although I don't think any of us understands how big this is going to be."
When asked why no prominent players were being identified as those who had failed steroids tests, Selig insisted there were no double standards.
"We are under a very significant obligation to reveal anybody who tests positive - whoever he is," Selig said.
In late April, just more than a month after Mark McGwire and other baseball players had come off as something less than believable before a Congressional committee when asked about steroids, Selig proposed a radical - for baseball, anyway - penalty system of 50 games for a first positive test for banned drugs, 100 games for a second and a lifetime ban for a "three strikes and out" violation. The players association and MLB still haven't agreed on that plan.
The current system calls for just a 10-game violation for a first offense.
"Is the current program working? It is, in my opinion," Selig said. "But I believe there is a deeper issue. I saw it in the eyes of some of those players on March 17 (in Washington).
"I believe we must create everywhere the understanding that we mean to rid this sport of steroids - that we were not kidding.
"The perception that we don't mean it is there. And it's affected the integrity of every component of baseball, starting with the commissioner. (The perception) is wrong, but it's there. I said when I was in Washington that if the federal government wanted to legislate, I would accept it. Do I prefer that Major League Baseball and the players' association do it? Of course. We should never let a third party do what we have to do. We need to show the whole world we're capable of solving our problems."
For the third year in a row Tuesday night, the winning team of the All-Star Game determined which league would have home-field advantage for the World Series in October.
"Are there better ways to do it?" Selig asked, rhetorically. He said that having the team with the best overall record during the season gain home-field advantage wasn't practical.
"We can't wait until late September or early October to determine that, relative to hotels and everything else. That takes months," he said.
Selig admitted the issue was television-sponsorship driven. "But that's not un-American either," he said. "When football does things that are good for television - playing games at different times, they're regarded as smart marketers.
"We do it and they say, 'Hah, they're letting television run it.'"
And speaking of television . . . what about the 3 1/2-hour televised ordeal that was the home-run derby Monday night? As they left the park Monday, some MLB officials were heard muttering about the length and using ESPN's name in vain.
"But, outside of the football games, it's the highest-rated program they have all year," Selig said.
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