Yankees' sign can't get Selig's goat
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. --Baseball commissioner Bud Selig watched one of his biggest projects get off the ground Sunday, and he wasn't about to let the New York Yankees spoil the moment.
Selig met with reporters during Team USA's debut, a World Baseball Classic tuneup against a San Francisco Giants split squad. He was asked about a sign that was posted Saturday in the main concourse at the New York Yankees' spring training complex in Tampa, Fla.
The sign apologized to fans about the absence of some Yankees stars. They include Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon, who chose to play for the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Bernie Williams is playing for Puerto Rico.
"The New York Yankess," the sign stated, misspelling the team's name, "did not vote to support this event. Any comments you have regarding the World Baseball Classic should be directed to the commissioner of Major League Baseball or the Major League Baseball Players Association."
The Yankees said the sign would be removed before Monday's game.
Howard Rubenstein, spokesman for George Steinbrenner, said Sunday the Yankees' owner did not know about the sign until hearing of it after news reports.
"He had nothing to do with it," Rubenstein said. "If it was his sign, he wouldn't have spelled Yankees wrong."
Selig was quite aware the sign was coming down.
"The sign is gone," he said Sunday.
Asked if Major League Baseball told the Yankees to remove it, Selig said, "Well, it didn't disappear by itself."
The commissioner never mentioned Steinbrenner and explained that the vast majority of baseball owners and the players union supported the 16-nation WBC. Steinbrenner, though, was not among them.
"Nobody on either side can say that this wasn't vetted properly over a long, long period of time," Selig said. "Other than that, I'll handle the internal matters in my own way."
The commissioner acknowledged his critics but said "it's easy to pick at something new."
"In this particular case," he said, "it's the coming years that will determine the success of this, and I'm more confident today than ever before."
Selig noted that for years baseball had been criticized for failing to try to spread the sport.
"I will tell you that I am as confident as ever," Selig said, "that someday, long after I'm gone obviously, this will have been the first crucial step in the absolutely tremendous internationalization of this sport."
He said he knows fans will be disappointed that they will not see some of their teams' stars, and he said the clubs have a right to be concerned about possible injuries, although he said injuries occur in spring training, too.
"At some point in life," Selig said, "you've got to rise above your own selfish interest. If this sport is to go to the heights we have to do, you can't let your own myopic interest guide you."
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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in Tampa, Fla., contributed to this report.
