Baseball and Its Potential Four-Star Recipe

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner
245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167
(212) 931-3800

Dear Mr. Commissioner:

July is almost behind us, division races are tightening up, and wildcard spots are becoming the focus of daily baseball conversation. In the city in which your office operates, the hometown Yankees are closing in on the Boston Red Sox; here in the American League Central, the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers seem to swap first and second places as often as most hurlers vary between strikes and balls. The Royals are on pace to have their second consecutive winning month for the first time in ages. Speaking of non-first place teams, the Yankees will be in town for a four-game series, the second game of which will be the 24th anniversary of the esteemed Pine Tar Incident (note: letter from last Friday on this topic).



I was troubled this week when I discovered that the court case mentioned in The Kansas City Star article had a side note to it: It was the first ruling in which YouTube.com was involved/mentioned. Apparently, it was determined that Major League Baseball owns the rights to the video footage of the Pine Tar Incident, YouTube was contacted and asked to remove the footage (as per some sort of copyright violation), and they acted accordingly. Thus, I found it incredibly disappointing that Pine Tar footage was no longer accessible.



Not as disappointing as Pete Rose not being in the Hall of Fame, but, hey – apples and oranges. Everything is ripe for the picking. Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s record; the Yankees may not win the AL East for the first time in nine consecutive seasons; the Colorado Rockies are playing well, as are the Royals; your Brewers are on a tear; Chicago Cubs fans are beside themselves; Pine Tar Anniversary celebration will be commemorated by fancy George Brett powder blue t-shirts. Why not throw one more good ingredient into the big batch of awesome? Why not release the demons associated with Pete Rose’s past? Why not lift the ban on Charlie Hustle? It could be the ultimate recipe for continued excellence in the bigs.