Should Bud Selig be a Hall of Famer?

[Chris Counts]

With all this talk about who shouldn't be in Cooperstown because he did steroids or produced numbers that suggested he did steroids, I wonder what Bud Selig's ultimate legacy will be. The one man who could have put a stop to the steroid scandal years ago — and ignored it — is on track to be a Hall of Famer. I say there's no way he should be inducted because the scandal happened on his watch, and half of America knew it existed before he publicly admitted there was a problem. It's only a matter of time before he's on the ballot, and considering the ineptitude of the voters and the cronyism that clearly exists among those who run baseball, he'll probably get in. What do you think? Should Bud have a plaque in Cooperstown?

And his legacy? He made millions for himself and other owners, but the game's credibility took a huge hit, in large part because he ignored a very serious problem for years. With the money he makes ($20 million a year plus), you would think he gets paid to tackle tough issues. While I disagree with much of what Kenesaw Landis did — from banning players for life over salary disputes to being an outright racist — he restored credibility to the game when it needed it by taking action and banning crooked players. The guy had balls.

Imagine if Bud had banned a couple players 20 years ago, before Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and others made a mockery over baseball statistics. We likely wouldn't be having this debate. And nobody would question Bud's Cooperstown credentials ...