Football
Associated Press 21y

Selig concerned with baseball's image in the past

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Commissioner Bud Selig wants to read David
Wells' autobiography before deciding whether baseball should take
disciplinary action against the New York Yankees' pitcher.

"I'd like to read it before I comment,'' Selig told reporters
Monday. "But I think any of you who know me pretty well can answer
that by yourself.''

Selig has been extremely concerned with baseball's image in the
past, and said the sport's image was discussed last week at the
first meeting of baseball's marketing committee.

"We talked about that, and there's no question in this day and
age, in any day and age, image is very important,'' Selig said. "I
believe the game is a social institution, and when you're a social
institution, you have social responsibilities. You may want to
ignore them, but you can't.''

Wells said in galleys for his book that 25 to 40 percent of
major leaguers used steroids. The figure in the actual book, which
will be published March 14, was lowered to 10 to 25 percent.

Wells could be punished by his team for the book that general
manager Brian Cashman said "tarnishes the Yankees' image.'' Over
the weekend, Wells apologized to Cashman and addressed his New York
teammates.

Asked about a range of subjects during his visit to Tempe Diablo
Stadium for the game between his Milwaukee Brewers and the Angels,
Selig said he thought last fall's World Series between San Francisco and Anaheim was "a wonderful story.''

Both the Giants and Angels, who won the World Series in seven
games, were wild-card teams.

"When we created the wild card, you remember there were some
people who were critical and thought that I was doing something
that would damage the fabric of the game,'' he said. "I found it
fascinating that you had two wild cards, one (the Giants) won 95
games, one won 99 games.

"I got a little bit of it in San Francisco, but a lot of it in
Anaheim, when I walked through the stands, people thanked me for
the wild card, over and over again.''

The commissioner thinks the proposal to give the All-Star-winning league home-field advantage for the World Series also will be viewed positively after it has been implemented for a few seasons. The plan has drawn some criticism from veteran
players.

"If you want to re-energize this (All-Star) Game, this is the way to do it,'' he said . "We need to re-energize it and should. People pay a lot of money for tickets, the network pays us a fortune.''

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