Transcripts For CSPAN2 Bud Selig For The Good Of The Game 20

[inaudible conversations] please welcome Doris Kearns Goodwin and bud selig. [applause] hello, everybody. I am so happy to be here with my friend, the commissioner, bud selig. I now realize it was a quarter of a century ago, i came to milwaukee, and read no ordinary time about frank and roosevelt. He wanted me to talk about baseball. Always that push and pull. What is happening in baseball, what is happening in the country, we have a great relationship, we became great friends with each others families and went to the hall of fame games together, went to japan for the opening day of the red sox, and all this time, bud selig would tell these amazing stories. I was glad when he decided to write this book which is a collection of the best stories. He is a great storyteller. I am so happy to be able to ask him questions that will illuminate. We will get to the thing that is on everybodys might which is the Houston Astros disaster and what that means for baseball. This guy is always authentic. He will tell you what is happening but i would like to start with the friendship you formed with hank aaron. We talked about it and what it was like for you when barry bonds was chasing his record and what it was like for you to have an africanamerican who was so essential in the sport and what it meant to you. It is a pleasure to be here today and to add something that doris said. When we met and for many years after words and up to this date, when we get together she wants to talk about baseball and i want to talk about history. Perfect marriage. Exactly right. I met henry aaron in 1958 long before i was in baseball and before he became the home run champion. We used to go to green bay packer games together and did things but it began in 1957 before i met him. He hit a home run to win the pennant for the milwaukee braves and doris, was carried off the field, a moment i will never forget. The next day in the new york times, the picture is juxtaposed, hank aaron being carried off the field, this gigantic celebration by his mainly white teammates and orville, a black kids picture, next to him, trying to go to school in little rock, arkansas. The picture made an indelible impression on me. And influenced my thinking. I will tell you rachel robinson, Jackie Robinsons widow, magnificent woman, once asked where that started. When i looked at that picture i realized how baseball could play a role sociologically and it did and so the other story i will tell you about henry, during the steroid situation i asked six hall of fame players to come to washington and they did, to appear before john mccains committee, it went extremely well and hank was the leadoff speaker but we had a dinner the night before and the night before after eating too much he said lets walk back and we walked back together just the two of us. He said to me at one point you have to understand, he is the most remarkably modest person that you could meet. We were standing under a street lamp. He said who would have believed when we were kids growing up, someday that is the only time i heard him say this, babe roofs record, and you would become the commissioner of baseball. We looked at each other and kept walking. [applause] tell me about ricky and his role in talking about changing the country as well as baseball and bringing Jackie Robinson. It led to the most important moment in baseball history, certainly the most powerful. 1945, the club had voted 151 with the commissioner who had said as long as he was commissioner of baseball, would never be a minority player. Mercifully, he died. [laughter] so ricky, incredible when you think about it, signs Jackie Robinson to a montreal contract and goes through all the stuff. On april 15th, 1947, you would know that better than i would, jackie or rachel called him jack, roosevelt robinson, the club is had voted 151 not to allow minority players just right before that and ricky did it and the whole thing was stunning and when you think of it this way you will appreciate this it was 3 and a half years before harry truman desegregated the United States, 7 years before brown versus board of education at 18 years before the civil rights movements. Ricky is a hero of mine. He was the greatest sports executive of all time. You can put that in together. It was a wonderful story. I must say when i was a little girl is a brooklyn dodgers fan Jackie Robinson was my favorite player and i would like to think now it was because i knew what he represented for civil rights but if im honest it was just that he was so exciting as a player. He would get on first placement steel second and then steal third and completely rattled the picture so i loved him but i always wanted his autograph and there were always long lines. In those days you could wait. They didnt charge you for the autographs, you just go. I never got his. When i was a young teenager i went, some of you are older may remember is teenagers we had these ridiculous autograph books where you say i will love you until Niagara Falls or i will cherish you to rubber tires will write all these stupid things to each other. I brought my autograph book and finally got to the front of the line and give it to him and thought he would just signed, he looks like one of my intimate friends but he started to read these things and i thought oh my god, i thought i would faint embarrassment. Incomplete keeping with the sentiment of the autograph book he wrote keep your smile a long long while, Jackie Robinson. It was the best. Years later i gave an award to rachel robinson, just kept thinking of fully my father had been there, giving her an award on behalf of eleanor roosevelt, told her how i had a crush on her husband, told her this ridiculous story and she is an incredibly typified wonderful woman. She told me the stories, the pressure on him was enormous. After he took great abuse in cincinnati, and ben chapman who is the manager who got fired the next year, was awful and ricky did something you didnt do, and i want to go on the word and travel with him the rest of the way home. Somehow they got through that and the more you read the story and the more you know about the story it was really a great story. It didnt solve any of our problems but if you read it, it sets an example. So important for us today. In the last day and a half we have talked so much about the situation in the country. Moving them and many of themf that for a little girl it was a disaster. Bud you know i teach now and walter does not come out well. And here is what and i have looked back on this, 1957 the giants will move and they should move. And whatever few giant fans they had, i see th say this not becae im talking to you but its because i believe that. It was a time in a move that really i think, broke the core of what people thought about sports and what, i mean, by that is that the dodgers for Something Special only in brooklyn but everywhere. And therefore, did ellie deserve team, of course she they have team of course they should. But not the brooklyn dodgers. [laughter]. And you know, you can suggest as you well know historians revisit history and they try to make believe that is robert moses. It was not, yes they wanted to build it on the flatbush avenue and they didnt and then moses offered them a place where they later built j stadium. And if people have said, was it perfect for the brooklyn dodgers but is a of a lot better than going to los angeles. Thats not a proud chapter in baseball history. Doris we sent petitions and i had dreams that i encountered in there somehow and i was a hero. And they couldnt leave the brooklyn dodgers and go to los angeles and then there was this horrible thing we used to say to one another which is embarrassing even more as a human being and then a horse story and what if you are in a room with hitler and walter and scally, and youll had two bullets what we do. The idiotic thing. Bud it was unanimous. That was a story that harry had two boats and walter got both of them. Doris exactly. Lets just talk about the contour as your leadership as commissioner. Weve been talking this last couple of days again about the gap between the rich and the poor and the lack of mobility and the fact that some people in the country not feeling that they are getting the change as some of other people in the country. That was a situation in baseball. And thats where you came in. In the same team was winning the playoff. If you are in a small market team you had very little help the team would make it. This is a whole series of things to help the situation. Each one mustve been tough knowing how it was. Bud is a very tough baseball as a social institution. And it was resistant to change so when i did the wildcard, oh my goodness. All that the abuse and oh you cannot do that. But i knew the one thing that we had to get too close revenuesharing and you know doris, i believe that an important part baseball is hope and faith. So that is in many franchises is possible, on march 26th this year, people at least have hope and faith the team can be competitive. But we had got into a point in the mid 90s when that was not so anymore. And so therefore, revenuesharing was critical. It took a long time and it went through a lot of pain and they did a lot of other revenue sharing things like for instance our Internet Company which proved to be an extraordinary success rate i wanted every club two of the same amount. I wanted Kansas City Royals tone is much as new york yankees. I wanted the pittsburgh but harvest own as much is los angeles. Because it was good for the sport. And it provided the hope faith that you needed. Slowly but surely in the legislative process we got things done twopoint we had over 5 million in revenue sharing. But a lot of other mechanisms, and in 2014 and 2015, went to the world series in kansas city missouri, that was a thrill for me. I never forget people everywhere kept saying thank you thank you so again the keywords we are hope and faith thats what everybody wants to hear anything else worked out well and we have work to do yet but it came along way in a short period of time. Doris you have statistics about how many more teams and into this final playoffs. Especially the wildcard. The one everybody got into the playoffs at one point and that was like in 2001 and it really made me happy and it did what we wanted to do it so it really worked out well. And it is so important because the fact of the matter is and he used to say that to the big markets clubs who balked at a lot of things and although i will say this, george was difficult and he was unusual and he was all of the above and being very serious now. But in the end, he went longways. And it turns out, the best years baseball ever had from 2005 on, we almost went to 80 Million People and so on. So the years we had revenuesharing and all of other devices that went in. So is good for the game. Doris the title of the book. For the good of the game. What about instant replay was a difficult thing to do. Bud it was difficult. Im really a traditionalist at heart. And i would really want to give credit to connie larusso. And he was working for me at the time and he sends at one point, weve got to go, not in baseball. I said football you get instant replay and take them six minutes before i find out what is good or bad but he convinced me over and over with the help of joe and mike and jimmy that it was good and so on the theory that you really want to get it right, we had had enough it came in detroit with two outs righted pitched a perfect game in the empire called it first. And that was painful. He was a good empire. I finally said to myself lets do it and we did it and its worked out very well. Doris now going to go back to the worst moment in my child and has to do the Houston Astros. As you know the new york giants were way behind the brooklyn dodgers in 1951 and i think maybe your 14 games ahead speed. Bud fourteen to 15. Doris in there was a butcher shop in my neighborhood who are only giant fans and they had kept a running tally of everything that was going on that summer. It is so exciting, every time we would go there would be on top and the giants would be laid out and all of a sudden by mid august he started climbing and climbing and climbing. And they finally caught up to us and it was a threegame playoff and in that last game Bobby Thompson is the famous home run against ralph is called a shot around the world embarrassing lived in concord for 42 years and we go to the minuteman statute and take people all of the country to see the minuteman statute and the shots were heard around the world. An unthinking Bobby Thompson and i think something is wrong with this but anyway, years later, this guy josh did this book and wrote his story in which he discovered the electrician who claimed they had set up some sort of system in the giants part where in centerfield and a telescope and they were able to signal the pictures to the matters. And i think of what that did to all of us. And my sister who was beautiful in 15 years older than me predicted that he will and homerun. I was so mad at her that i didnt even want to speak to her. I was sure that she made it happen. It would not go back to the butcher shop users to adverse until he finally sent me the first farmers were sent to me, they called me grandma all of the time because my here was a red mark. Dear greg mark, please come back and we miss you. This is a huge part of childhood and i can imagine what its like for the fans of the dodgers and to know what is happening with houston now and a sophisticated system of cheating and what is based on doing and what can we do and technology will get better mentor and people have things in their ears. How will we prevent that. Stuart and youre right, sign ceiling has been part of the game but a different kind of signs dealing in players or try to pick up signals. If i could give you personal story i went to release field in the early 60s and they were playing the cubs and theres never much of a contest but the fact of the matter is sitting in the centerfield bleacher pitcher named bob. And he had a raincoat and he was stealing singles in the cubs finally figured out in the sixth inning. By having said that, this is a most unfortunate incident. No question about it but i think that rob manford current commissioner, dealt with it harshly. After all the manager lost his job, the general manager lost his job, they got 5 million which is the maximum you can find somebody. And they loss of first and second draft choices which really hurt for two years. And then to other managers lost their job including the manager of your favorite team. But i think people will understand the future now how serious this is in these work serious consequences for the houston club. Technology is Getting Better but sorely and i think that you will not see this happen again. Bud i have i will be very surprised if it does. But baseball is taking this very seriously and using every technological device they know to make sure that it does not happen again. And if somebody is idiotic enough to do it again, they will get penalized and severely as the Houston Astros. Doris was there an actual rule was violated. How does work. Bud in 2017, rob manford sent a memo to all of the clubs. It was no question about it and apparently, there are some people very often happens where they think it is for everybody us but not for them. They have ignored it and then they. A terrible price for it. And the rules are there they will come up with more rules and i am satisfied like a lot of other things that we go through, it was most unfortunate as a sent that cost a lot of people their jobs but it will not happen again and if it does, they will killed. Doris okay that sounds alright to me. A stock more personally. I love this thread in your book about your love of baseball working from and your mother, ukraine, going to games with her. And then obviously the Milwaukee Team that you got. Please tell some of the personal stories. The reason why baseball become so passionate in your case it was your mother. Bud it was and i remember my mother listening to games on the radio when as a little kid and she started taking me to games early on. That is how hard i became in the 40s, i would buy every baseball magazine and do the things that we did. Nolte a funny story about that. So in the 50s, we have a big luncheon and my mother is there and my mother and dad. A transistor radio on her ear and im dying. And in the midst of this motion, she is out, how do you like that, a grand slam homegrown and the whole room goes up. Bud so that is how it all happened in my head was good and he took me in the late 40s early 50s, we would go to chicago to see the yankees believe it or not i was a yankee fan because of joe dimaggio. But as my mother really did that. And when we got a team, she takes me to new york in 1949, my 15th birthday. And we go to the Yankees Stadium and were sitting in the upper deck and on my birthday july 30th. In the wheel a big cookout. And i really at the time, i said, how could you do that to me. And she said what youre talking about and i said the birthday cake up. It blows caseys birthday of the new york yankees. So we got over that and then to boston, then she wanted to go to art museums and she had many other interests. And then we get to fenway park in the yankees are playing in dimaggios coming back in the yankees are playing and we go to the ticket window and the guy sums it down and she said you cant do that, i got my boy. And he didnt give a damn about anything like that. We do not get in we walked around fenway park for a long time and we left. Three years later, really good, a big serious with the red sox and she had asked me she take me. I said of course you can come. And we go, put her down and i went into the clubhouse and i came back and she only had one when he came up. She said its a little different than 30 years ago. Doris talk about, i know you said one of your most crowded moments was keeping that team in milwaukee and being able to give milwaukee the team back. Someone should tell people that pretty. Bud leader the race came in milwaukee 1953 and had a remarkable team, never played under 500 and all of a sudden changed ownership in fact omalley, in 55 and 56, were using the braves, had to move because they had one of her weight over 2 Million People which was stunning in that day. The braves left and dont have enough time to tell the story. I am very sad and very unfair and is for the next five and half years and doris, the american lake, and a Doris Kearns Goodwin<\/a> and bud selig. [applause] hello, everybody. I am so happy to be here with my friend, the commissioner, bud selig. I now realize it was a quarter of a century ago, i came to milwaukee, and read no ordinary time about frank and roosevelt. He wanted me to talk about baseball. Always that push and pull. What is happening in baseball, what is happening in the country, we have a great relationship, we became great friends with each others families and went to the hall of fame games together, went to japan for the opening day of the red sox, and all this time, bud selig would tell these amazing stories. I was glad when he decided to write this book which is a collection of the best stories. He is a great storyteller. I am so happy to be able to ask him questions that will illuminate. We will get to the thing that is on everybodys might which is the Houston Astros<\/a> disaster and what that means for baseball. This guy is always authentic. He will tell you what is happening but i would like to start with the friendship you formed with hank aaron. We talked about it and what it was like for you when barry bonds was chasing his record and what it was like for you to have an africanamerican who was so essential in the sport and what it meant to you. It is a pleasure to be here today and to add something that doris said. When we met and for many years after words and up to this date, when we get together she wants to talk about baseball and i want to talk about history. Perfect marriage. Exactly right. I met henry aaron in 1958 long before i was in baseball and before he became the home run champion. We used to go to green bay packer games together and did things but it began in 1957 before i met him. He hit a home run to win the pennant for the milwaukee braves and doris, was carried off the field, a moment i will never forget. The next day in the new york times, the picture is juxtaposed, hank aaron being carried off the field, this gigantic celebration by his mainly white teammates and orville, a black kids picture, next to him, trying to go to school in little rock, arkansas. The picture made an indelible impression on me. And influenced my thinking. I will tell you rachel robinson, Jackie Robinsons<\/a> widow, magnificent woman, once asked where that started. When i looked at that picture i realized how baseball could play a role sociologically and it did and so the other story i will tell you about henry, during the steroid situation i asked six hall of fame players to come to washington and they did, to appear before john mccains committee, it went extremely well and hank was the leadoff speaker but we had a dinner the night before and the night before after eating too much he said lets walk back and we walked back together just the two of us. He said to me at one point you have to understand, he is the most remarkably modest person that you could meet. We were standing under a street lamp. He said who would have believed when we were kids growing up, someday that is the only time i heard him say this, babe roofs record, and you would become the commissioner of baseball. We looked at each other and kept walking. [applause] tell me about ricky and his role in talking about changing the country as well as baseball and bringing Jackie Robinson<\/a>. It led to the most important moment in baseball history, certainly the most powerful. 1945, the club had voted 151 with the commissioner who had said as long as he was commissioner of baseball, would never be a minority player. Mercifully, he died. [laughter] so ricky, incredible when you think about it, signs Jackie Robinson<\/a> to a montreal contract and goes through all the stuff. On april 15th, 1947, you would know that better than i would, jackie or rachel called him jack, roosevelt robinson, the club is had voted 151 not to allow minority players just right before that and ricky did it and the whole thing was stunning and when you think of it this way you will appreciate this it was 3 and a half years before harry truman desegregated the United States<\/a>, 7 years before brown versus board of education at 18 years before the civil rights movements. Ricky is a hero of mine. He was the greatest sports executive of all time. You can put that in together. It was a wonderful story. I must say when i was a little girl is a brooklyn dodgers fan Jackie Robinson<\/a> was my favorite player and i would like to think now it was because i knew what he represented for civil rights but if im honest it was just that he was so exciting as a player. He would get on first placement steel second and then steal third and completely rattled the picture so i loved him but i always wanted his autograph and there were always long lines. In those days you could wait. They didnt charge you for the autographs, you just go. I never got his. When i was a young teenager i went, some of you are older may remember is teenagers we had these ridiculous autograph books where you say i will love you until Niagara Falls<\/a> or i will cherish you to rubber tires will write all these stupid things to each other. I brought my autograph book and finally got to the front of the line and give it to him and thought he would just signed, he looks like one of my intimate friends but he started to read these things and i thought oh my god, i thought i would faint embarrassment. Incomplete keeping with the sentiment of the autograph book he wrote keep your smile a long long while, Jackie Robinson<\/a>. It was the best. Years later i gave an award to rachel robinson, just kept thinking of fully my father had been there, giving her an award on behalf of eleanor roosevelt, told her how i had a crush on her husband, told her this ridiculous story and she is an incredibly typified wonderful woman. She told me the stories, the pressure on him was enormous. After he took great abuse in cincinnati, and ben chapman who is the manager who got fired the next year, was awful and ricky did something you didnt do, and i want to go on the word and travel with him the rest of the way home. Somehow they got through that and the more you read the story and the more you know about the story it was really a great story. It didnt solve any of our problems but if you read it, it sets an example. So important for us today. In the last day and a half we have talked so much about the situation in the country. Moving them and many of themf that for a little girl it was a disaster. Bud you know i teach now and walter does not come out well. And here is what and i have looked back on this, 1957 the giants will move and they should move. And whatever few giant fans they had, i see th say this not becae im talking to you but its because i believe that. It was a time in a move that really i think, broke the core of what people thought about sports and what, i mean, by that is that the dodgers for Something Special<\/a> only in brooklyn but everywhere. And therefore, did ellie deserve team, of course she they have team of course they should. But not the brooklyn dodgers. [laughter]. And you know, you can suggest as you well know historians revisit history and they try to make believe that is robert moses. It was not, yes they wanted to build it on the flatbush avenue and they didnt and then moses offered them a place where they later built j stadium. And if people have said, was it perfect for the brooklyn dodgers but is a of a lot better than going to los angeles. Thats not a proud chapter in baseball history. Doris we sent petitions and i had dreams that i encountered in there somehow and i was a hero. And they couldnt leave the brooklyn dodgers and go to los angeles and then there was this horrible thing we used to say to one another which is embarrassing even more as a human being and then a horse story and what if you are in a room with hitler and walter and scally, and youll had two bullets what we do. The idiotic thing. Bud it was unanimous. That was a story that harry had two boats and walter got both of them. Doris exactly. Lets just talk about the contour as your leadership as commissioner. Weve been talking this last couple of days again about the gap between the rich and the poor and the lack of mobility and the fact that some people in the country not feeling that they are getting the change as some of other people in the country. That was a situation in baseball. And thats where you came in. In the same team was winning the playoff. If you are in a small market team you had very little help the team would make it. This is a whole series of things to help the situation. Each one mustve been tough knowing how it was. Bud is a very tough baseball as a social institution. And it was resistant to change so when i did the wildcard, oh my goodness. All that the abuse and oh you cannot do that. But i knew the one thing that we had to get too close revenuesharing and you know doris, i believe that an important part baseball is hope and faith. So that is in many franchises is possible, on march 26th this year, people at least have hope and faith the team can be competitive. But we had got into a point in the mid 90s when that was not so anymore. And so therefore, revenuesharing was critical. It took a long time and it went through a lot of pain and they did a lot of other revenue sharing things like for instance our Internet Company<\/a> which proved to be an extraordinary success rate i wanted every club two of the same amount. I wanted Kansas City Royals<\/a> tone is much as new york yankees. I wanted the pittsburgh but harvest own as much is los angeles. Because it was good for the sport. And it provided the hope faith that you needed. Slowly but surely in the legislative process we got things done twopoint we had over 5 million in revenue sharing. But a lot of other mechanisms, and in 2014 and 2015, went to the world series in kansas city missouri, that was a thrill for me. I never forget people everywhere kept saying thank you thank you so again the keywords we are hope and faith thats what everybody wants to hear anything else worked out well and we have work to do yet but it came along way in a short period of time. Doris you have statistics about how many more teams and into this final playoffs. Especially the wildcard. The one everybody got into the playoffs at one point and that was like in 2001 and it really made me happy and it did what we wanted to do it so it really worked out well. And it is so important because the fact of the matter is and he used to say that to the big markets clubs who balked at a lot of things and although i will say this, george was difficult and he was unusual and he was all of the above and being very serious now. But in the end, he went longways. And it turns out, the best years baseball ever had from 2005 on, we almost went to 80 Million People<\/a> and so on. So the years we had revenuesharing and all of other devices that went in. So is good for the game. Doris the title of the book. For the good of the game. What about instant replay was a difficult thing to do. Bud it was difficult. Im really a traditionalist at heart. And i would really want to give credit to connie larusso. And he was working for me at the time and he sends at one point, weve got to go, not in baseball. I said football you get instant replay and take them six minutes before i find out what is good or bad but he convinced me over and over with the help of joe and mike and jimmy that it was good and so on the theory that you really want to get it right, we had had enough it came in detroit with two outs righted pitched a perfect game in the empire called it first. And that was painful. He was a good empire. I finally said to myself lets do it and we did it and its worked out very well. Doris now going to go back to the worst moment in my child and has to do the Houston Astros<\/a>. As you know the new york giants were way behind the brooklyn dodgers in 1951 and i think maybe your 14 games ahead speed. Bud fourteen to 15. Doris in there was a butcher shop in my neighborhood who are only giant fans and they had kept a running tally of everything that was going on that summer. It is so exciting, every time we would go there would be on top and the giants would be laid out and all of a sudden by mid august he started climbing and climbing and climbing. And they finally caught up to us and it was a threegame playoff and in that last game Bobby Thompson<\/a> is the famous home run against ralph is called a shot around the world embarrassing lived in concord for 42 years and we go to the minuteman statute and take people all of the country to see the minuteman statute and the shots were heard around the world. An unthinking Bobby Thompson<\/a> and i think something is wrong with this but anyway, years later, this guy josh did this book and wrote his story in which he discovered the electrician who claimed they had set up some sort of system in the giants part where in centerfield and a telescope and they were able to signal the pictures to the matters. And i think of what that did to all of us. And my sister who was beautiful in 15 years older than me predicted that he will and homerun. I was so mad at her that i didnt even want to speak to her. I was sure that she made it happen. It would not go back to the butcher shop users to adverse until he finally sent me the first farmers were sent to me, they called me grandma all of the time because my here was a red mark. Dear greg mark, please come back and we miss you. This is a huge part of childhood and i can imagine what its like for the fans of the dodgers and to know what is happening with houston now and a sophisticated system of cheating and what is based on doing and what can we do and technology will get better mentor and people have things in their ears. How will we prevent that. Stuart and youre right, sign ceiling has been part of the game but a different kind of signs dealing in players or try to pick up signals. If i could give you personal story i went to release field in the early 60s and they were playing the cubs and theres never much of a contest but the fact of the matter is sitting in the centerfield bleacher pitcher named bob. And he had a raincoat and he was stealing singles in the cubs finally figured out in the sixth inning. By having said that, this is a most unfortunate incident. No question about it but i think that rob manford current commissioner, dealt with it harshly. After all the manager lost his job, the general manager lost his job, they got 5 million which is the maximum you can find somebody. And they loss of first and second draft choices which really hurt for two years. And then to other managers lost their job including the manager of your favorite team. But i think people will understand the future now how serious this is in these work serious consequences for the houston club. Technology is Getting Better<\/a> but sorely and i think that you will not see this happen again. Bud i have i will be very surprised if it does. But baseball is taking this very seriously and using every technological device they know to make sure that it does not happen again. And if somebody is idiotic enough to do it again, they will get penalized and severely as the Houston Astros<\/a>. Doris was there an actual rule was violated. How does work. Bud in 2017, rob manford sent a memo to all of the clubs. It was no question about it and apparently, there are some people very often happens where they think it is for everybody us but not for them. They have ignored it and then they. A terrible price for it. And the rules are there they will come up with more rules and i am satisfied like a lot of other things that we go through, it was most unfortunate as a sent that cost a lot of people their jobs but it will not happen again and if it does, they will killed. Doris okay that sounds alright to me. A stock more personally. I love this thread in your book about your love of baseball working from and your mother, ukraine, going to games with her. And then obviously the Milwaukee Team<\/a> that you got. Please tell some of the personal stories. The reason why baseball become so passionate in your case it was your mother. Bud it was and i remember my mother listening to games on the radio when as a little kid and she started taking me to games early on. That is how hard i became in the 40s, i would buy every baseball magazine and do the things that we did. Nolte a funny story about that. So in the 50s, we have a big luncheon and my mother is there and my mother and dad. A transistor radio on her ear and im dying. And in the midst of this motion, she is out, how do you like that, a grand slam homegrown and the whole room goes up. Bud so that is how it all happened in my head was good and he took me in the late 40s early 50s, we would go to chicago to see the yankees believe it or not i was a yankee fan because of joe dimaggio. But as my mother really did that. And when we got a team, she takes me to new york in 1949, my 15th birthday. And we go to the Yankees Stadium<\/a> and were sitting in the upper deck and on my birthday july 30th. In the wheel a big cookout. And i really at the time, i said, how could you do that to me. And she said what youre talking about and i said the birthday cake up. It blows caseys birthday of the new york yankees. So we got over that and then to boston, then she wanted to go to art museums and she had many other interests. And then we get to fenway park in the yankees are playing in dimaggios coming back in the yankees are playing and we go to the ticket window and the guy sums it down and she said you cant do that, i got my boy. And he didnt give a damn about anything like that. We do not get in we walked around fenway park for a long time and we left. Three years later, really good, a big serious with the red sox and she had asked me she take me. I said of course you can come. And we go, put her down and i went into the clubhouse and i came back and she only had one when he came up. She said its a little different than 30 years ago. Doris talk about, i know you said one of your most crowded moments was keeping that team in milwaukee and being able to give milwaukee the team back. Someone should tell people that pretty. Bud leader the race came in milwaukee 1953 and had a remarkable team, never played under 500 and all of a sudden changed ownership in fact omalley, in 55 and 56, were using the braves, had to move because they had one of her weight over 2 Million People<\/a> which was stunning in that day. The braves left and dont have enough time to tell the story. I am very sad and very unfair and is for the next five and half years and doris, the american lake, and a National League<\/a> in a turndown and expansion. Thought we had the white sox bought and all of a sudden the seattle pirates were available and we wanted to keep them in seattle. And mercifully, they cannot find an owner in seattle all winter long retried. In march of 1970, the seattle pilots came into seattle and we opened up 70s later. And ive often said and we have had a great 50 years. Hard to believe the number of polymers in milwaukee to almost 3m people is your. Back to the omalley, it was just a long situation but fortunately this one could be rectified. So with all of the things that have happened to me, and all of the things that have gone on, i will always be honest on bringing that team back to milwaukee. Doris i can imagine, yay. You must have been at this games when i see one for the first time in a long time like the red sox washington national. It is just so rewarding. The Washington Nationals<\/a>, i was able to go to a game when obama was there. And then you were able to, theaters allowed me to cut my picture taken when i was doing the book on teddy roosevelt. And with the two baskets because these have teddy taft and they would run around and somehow always lose and teddy would lose. So i felt such an emotional connection after the red sox went to the nationals this year and i happen to be at a bar in texas and election that night and people, theres a sense ill run the country somehow when people know there is a team that is not one in a long time and deserves it, is that sense of the underdog. Of wanting the pleasure of those kids and those parents when i saw the celebration afterwards, it was great. And chicago cubs having that happen in the red sox having that happen, that is what you want for every team to have that sort of enormous joy. Bud the one thing that you see right from the start, and this is a sociological influence of the game, is something that takes and binds a community together. Through thick and thin and you watch people in these situations they were talking about is really nothing like baseball. It is just absolutely amazing and the joy it brings unhappiness and brings. I said to you, often and in 1957 we talked about watching the braves win the pennant. I will never forget the people in the upper deck crying and i started crying. You are right, it brings something that is really just amazing. Doris i sort of had an unhealthy attitude until we finally one. I would get thrilled with the red sox would be losing and i did not want to read the newspapers that date there would be a sad story and the whole rest of the day until finally once we won that first time, and year after year before that, it would be these playoff games we would lose to the yankees and ill never forget that one time an old guy stood up and it was also, i just started yelling year after year after year and everybody started laughing because we were in this together. Theres something bizarre about the fact that when you have not one for a long time that develops an even greater sense of a bond so that when you win, i used to think that what if i were a yankees fan would be as much fun to win your after year after year and i think probably not. It doesnt mean that i still have not been happy the red sox have one since then several times more times than anyone else i guess in 20 sent me for centuries we would say so the 80s, yeah but what about our 21 the year before but there was something about just that feeling of connection to everybody. Now you know the story, people would bring the red sox pat do their grandfathers grave and im sure they did that in chicago and washington and theres something about baseball that connects generations. That is so special. Bud theres no question about it. When we won the pennant and 82 and you just, people wrote me letters and how it affected their family and how it affected their lives. And that is why when youre in baseball, especially when youre a commissioner, you have to understand what it means to so many people in the obligation you have because of this very connected of you are talking about read it and i remember, many things i can tell you from that. I remember woman it was a teacher in medicine, wrote me a long beautiful letter. How it had helped the family and how it helped and they came in to see me. When you realize the impact that is made in their lives, you are grateful. Doris i think the story that you know, and my first confession in the Catholic Church<\/a> i had to confess that i had to since relating to baseball, the first car because the dodger catcher Roy Campanella<\/a> was coming to my hometown to do a lecture and im so excited to be the first player i would never seek outside of the field. But it was announced that he was speaking at a Protestant Church<\/a> when you run at the catholic anything of that epicenter for a Protestant Church<\/a>. So i went to my father and said what are we going to do what he said, not to worry. He is speaking in the parish hall. He is talking about sportsmanship and were sitting on folding chairs. Its not a religious service, some sense so i went over to the threshold of night, this one night with roy, i came out and i left my first confession and i decided to tell the priest right away and he told me he said nothing is wrong with that. But what else my child. And then i have to admit the other baseballs and they came in between talking too much and harm to others and being mean to my sister and he said to whom did you wish armenta had to admit that i wished the new york yankee players would break their arms and legs and ankles of the brooklyn dodgers can win their first world series and he said how long are often do you make these horrible things and he promise you that sunday that you dont need to wish harm on others to make it happen. You understand, i left the confessional and set a special prayer for the brooklyn dodgers and how luckily i made my first confession to a fan. Tell everybody what mustve been like waiting for the hall of fame. He is sort of know, getting a chance to get in. They tell you that you will be called in a certain time and global law. Bud they tell you that they will call at 445 and so i am there in the family is there and everybody said you are First Priority<\/a> wont have to worry and it is 446 and i said to sue, see i told you up, and of course at 447 she calls. Doris pointed they say. Bud congratulations bud you have been elected to the hall of fame. [applause]. You know ive often thought about this, and the morning of the hall of fame ceremony, i got up and started thinking about all of those days as a kid, going to games and then milwaukee situation and the commissioner situation and sometimes of being the commissioner as well as all of the good times there are both. And i would say to rob manford, always remember this. No matter what you do, somebody will be met. And thats true. Thats an absolute fact. And to think then that who couldve ever imagined, those days of walking the streets in milwaukee are flying follow the country trying to get a team. I never thought anything about being in the hall of fame. So this was overwhelming. I didnt think it would be. I thought a lot about it before that but i dont mind telling you that it was really overwhelming. I was proud, where my pen every day in the ask you to do that but i am happy to do it and i am honored to do it. Doris i have been able to go to a couple of hall of fame games is like a throwback to another world. The old players come back and they sit in these chairs and that great hotel and they tell the stories of when they were there. Bud remember you and came to the hall of fame with a friend. And we sat, and this is when my book at an story, henry and his wife, and four of us sat there. We were at the hotel, and telling stories. And she said to me, you have got to write a book. You cannot let all of these stories go. I had not really thought about it. It did and there are some things i love history and when you walk the halls of the hall of fame, when you see all of that and you see all of the people in it and why they are in it and how they are in it, i said it is overwhelming and that is all i can say. Its just really overwhelming. Doris since only way to think about the future baseball. There is talk about shortening the game there is talk about having to make it more whatever. More, prone to understanding todays world. His are not playing Little League<\/a> baseball, this not having the same way. Kids are playing on the corners. I still believe is always going to be, as for the ties altogether but i would love to hear your thoughts about this. Bud let me say this right from the start because again, history is important. I have heard this for years about baseball. In 1958, if i can just so you story here. The sports editor, of the milwaukee journal, one of the greatest human beings of all time but anyway he wrote a column that National Attention<\/a> and he said the baseball is more abundant. It is time, the next generation has not accepted it and he went on and on and on. So now george here we are 61 years later, in the name Gross Revenue<\/a> is over 13 billion and in those days, if a club at a Million People<\/a> they were successful in today, a club doesnt draw anywhere close to over two and half Million People<\/a>, they are successful. So you look at all of the things and look, baseball is like Everything Else<\/a> in life. It goes through different periods and he goes through different cycles and goes through different things. But will the game will it survive, you bet it will. The game and so on and so forth, although with great interest, the other sports are running really long tube. But what he thinks about that pretty think they have already. I think theyre very mindful of that. Another rob is pretty think that there is no doubt in my mind that 40 years from now, 50 years from now, baseball will have grown tremendously and by the way, we have Wonderful Group<\/a> of Young Players<\/a> starting with mike, is really spectacular. I am very satisfied that we will solve the problems ahead of us because, it is the best game in the world. Doris i agree totally. Was there ever a chance of having a team the way that the. Bud in the 90s when i started, i knew all of the things that we had to do, and its unfortunately lost the world series and because that was all about a salary cap. The owners wanted the salary cap. They were not wrong. And they wanted it to protect themselves. The nfl has in the mba acid. But to the state, it wont go along with it but we have done a lot of other things on the draft and really i think its got meaningful, Meaningful Solutions<\/a> out of it so no, they will not accept the salary cap but look, sent to you how competitive we are. The competition is really good. Milwaukee last year, oakland, small clubs that really remarkably well. I will born again to. Im not sure that what weve done is it better than a salary cap. Doris the putting it together. There is still effective when spring comes, and you know the trucks are going to florida and to arizona, somehow it is the beginning of winter main number and season begins in the summers there. I think part of it is that it is such a long part of the year, its really part of or is the whole year. And the other is more intense but is gone then. Bud starting in march, no question in all of the way until september and then into the playoffs, that it is really part of your lives. But the fact of the matter is, and i would get back to the question you asked about where baseball is today. Brian 70 million last year. In the Minor Leagues<\/a> rep 40 3m 40 and so people talk about well by the way, there were kids playing baseball today than ever before. More than any other sport in fact did studies last year much to say that there are more kids playing baseball than any other source a lot of things have happened in the other sports without me analyzing it but so i feel good about where we are in a doesnt mean we dont have problems, it does not mean that we dont have things that we can do better. But i really think and thats why when i say to you doris, that we have this wonderful wave of Young Players<\/a>. It is remarkable. Watching september, when they have the pennant races, learners will understand that. We had that last year. It is exciting. And theyre the latest example, look what they are winning did in washington. Look what it did to people. So it makes an impression and it creates excitement the people who are going through it in those cities never forget it. Doris i even had a dream when he took over the Washington Nationals<\/a> that it would Bring Congress<\/a> together somehow. The democrats and the republicans will be sitting sidebyside in the will forget to say things when theyre back. Im not sure that dream will be realized from probably, when there in the park together, and the at least forget for the moment that they dont like each other back in the cabinet. Bud baseball has done a lot for the communities in the country but he cannot do that because not sure anything left can do that. Speech of the great thing is that we are coming close the end is that ten williams, jenny baseball, they should call you but baseball, you love this game so much and what matters more for a leader in any field the passion that they hold in the belief that the game or whatever the organization, and that you give everything you have to that. Look how many times you are asked over and over again, they knew what you are doing for the sport. And i should think that there is nothing that should give you more pleasure in knowing the country and all of us who love baseball are so grateful that it was you that was there these long times stewarding this game that we love so much. It. Bud thank you. [applause]. Thank you and one thing ive always said, and it is true in everything in life. That if you do not have a passion, you should not do it. And there is no question that as a commissioner, i was more of a fan, i could separate the fanout but i do love the game. There is no doubt about it. And i will sit many a and watch all 15 games. My wife, saying that over and over. You have to love the game. Youve got to have passion for it. And if you understand, and ive said before its a sociological part of it we talked about brooklyn and that was a negative part but i remember ill be candid when we went to the steroid thing. And i am proud to say and wednesday this year the baseball today is the toughest steroid Testing Program<\/a> in america. [applause]. So we confronted that but when i walked into the hearing in a five, the first two speakers were two people who sense had played baseball and committed suicide. Because it took steroids and remember how it hit me that we have to do something about this. In the next morning i called a funny story he was me but, he knows does chalk talks and goes to every team and talk to kids in every city and that is the role baseball as a social institution and as you will know better than i do, they are not always perfect when i look back on baseball and what i look forward to doing we really have a wonderful and benign and i am proud. Doris i totally great and when i was in graduate school, i was in court, the great psychologist and he said, when you get older and might, would you hope you have developed during your life is a combination of finding work that you have passion for and finding love and family and friends and colleagues in fighting play which means something outside of those that can give you pleasure and joy and for me that love the brooklyn dodgers and 35 years of the season Ticket Holder<\/a> the red sox, going to the game and forget Everything Else<\/a> that is bothering me just for that night totally the red sox. It is something with the sport any passion or sport arts music baseball but is what we all need to give ourselves of the dimension life. Im so grateful for you for the rule that you have played in my passion for all of these years and am so glad that ill be here to hear this great character. [applause]. Bud thank you. [applause]. [background sounds]. The American Enterprise<\/a> institute in washington dc, Washington Examiner<\/a> political analyst michael, examines how americas Political Party<\/a> has and has not changed. Heres a portion of the program. The Democratic Party<\/a> is always been a coalition of groups. Different groups of people, regarded by the cells and others, is not typical americans when the united, often they come from the majority Andrew Jacksons<\/a> party was the coalition of southern whites and the Roman Catholic<\/a> immigrants. A good combination to keep them separate. The democrats hundred and three balance, and a candidate for president in 1924 and that convention one oh three. And its four votes out of Something Like<\/a> 2000 votes and it declined to censor the coup ku klux klan. Invite there. And todays Democratic Party<\/a> is the coalitions most loyal members include unusually religious black americans and unusually secular liberals. They often are going to Work Together<\/a> to impeach donald trump so it appears that when it comes to the argument of the Tax Exemption<\/a> for churches who dont perform samesex marriage, i predict they will be disagreement there between these two groups. I think these two enduring characters, help to explain their longevity. That has been important in a nation that is always been diverse. You will hear a lot of commentary this says, on the last three years for the last 12 years, we have become a diverse country. We have always been a diverse country. The british colonies at the atlantic seaboard were a Diverse Group<\/a> of colonists. The Founding Fathers<\/a> recognized that when they created the constitution. That retain power in the states, the provided for freedom of religion but also said there was no way to be a federal government established religion. You continue to have them in massachusetts and virginia, while virginia got rid of their religious establishment but they know about the religious unlike the european countries, it will affect the United States<\/a> and so religiously diverse country and provided a framework in which we could do that in my proposition here is that the existence of these two parties, one always concentrating on a core constituency and the other a coalition of selected groups have given a large majority of voters in an always diverse country, diverse economically, religiously, ethnically racially, and so forth. A choice and expression, a choice that will tend to be congenial to them. And that has accounted for the persistence of our twoparty system. It is something that is fundamental about the United States<\/a>, not necessarily transferable to other countries, and it is something that are two Political Parties<\/a> which like to excoriate each other both which are excoriated by many citizens ive been doing radio shows ive been hearing about that. Nonetheless, have performed over time. To watch the rest of this program, visitor website booktv. Org and search for michael or the title of this book how americans Political Parties<\/a> change using the box in the top of the page. Next on book tv, joshua hemmer tells the story of a blackmarket. Joshua hammer black market animal smuggling operation. In the American Society<\/a> and predictable. Followed by Columbia University<\/a> professor of the social information on College Campuses<\/a> pretty check your Program Guide<\/a> for more information. Now, heres a look at International Animals<\/a> bubbling","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia802904.us.archive.org\/16\/items\/CSPAN2_20200314_135000_Bud_Selig_For_the_Good_of_the_Game\/CSPAN2_20200314_135000_Bud_Selig_For_the_Good_of_the_Game.thumbs\/CSPAN2_20200314_135000_Bud_Selig_For_the_Good_of_the_Game_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}