(titular, powerless figurehead. And Fay Vincent)
The newspapers are filled with fun stuff for Commissioner Bud Selig. For one thing, he’s just been called out by a man named Fay.
From George Willis in Sunday’s New York Post.
Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent was sitting in a golf cart yesterday afternoon watching the Mets and Cardinals take batting practice before their exhibition game at Tradition Field. But when he was asked about Thursday’s Congressional hearing on steroid use in baseball, Vincent took a few swings of his own at current commissioner Bud Selig.
Vincent blasted Selig for hesitating to appear at the hearing called by the House Government Reform Committee. Selig was not subpoenaed, but was among those initially invited to appear. Rob Manfred, executive vice president for labor relations in the commissioner’s office, is scheduled to testify on Selig’s behalf.
“I think Selig should go,” said Vincent, baseball’s commissioner from 1989-92. “I think the idea of the commissioner not going is a very bad mistake. He’s in charge of explaining baseball’s position. You can’t send one of your people. Congress wants to hear from the commissioner.”
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Vincent said. “They ought to let as much sunlight on the problem as possible. People may have made mistakes. Maybe I made a mistake back in ’91 not chasing it harder. All Congress wants to know is that baseball is deserving of the trust, and they want to know that baseball is handling things properly. I think baseball should go in and explain what it was doing.”