The news Thursday that Bud Selig will be staying on as baseball commissioner through at least 2014 was, predictably, met in some circles with the requisite amount of eye-rolling.
Since taking over the job -- on an interim basis in 1992 and then officially in 1998 -- Selig has elicited the same response from many. Never exactly telegenic, he's far from the ideal post-modern commissioner. His habit of cupping his hand to his ear when he can't quite make out a question might remind some of their grandfathers, which perhaps isn't surprising, given that Selig is 77.
Some will never forgive his role in the 1994-95 strike, which resulted in two truncated seasons and a lost (1994) World Series, or how long it took him to respond to baseball's growing PED scandal.
Those points in particular are fair criticisms and each will forever be a stain on Selig's legacy. There's no whitewashing history.
But the larger picture reveals a far more accomplished tenure. On Selig's watch, baseball rebounded from its labor strife and is now, improbably, the model for labor peace in professional sports. With the newly negotiated collective bargaining agreement in place, baseball is in the middle of what will be a 20-year stretch of uninterrupted play.
Moreover, business is booming under Selig. Revenues in 2011, though not officially released, are said to be in excess of 7 billion, a record for the industry. Attendance, which had increased dramatically in the last decade, has been maintained in recent years despite the recession.
Selig can rightfully take credit for introducing -- to great objection at the time -- an expanded playoff format in 1995, and years later, interleague play, which, though it may offend purists, remains enormously popular with most fans.
Baseball Advance Media (BAM), which includes MLB.com, has become a cash cow for the game and its franchises, and when the sport concludes its next round of negotiations with TV networks, rights fees will take another stratospheric leap.
His stewardship goes beyond the bottom line, too.
Though you wouldn't know it by the average fan -- or pundit for that matter, given the media's slavish devotion to all things NFL -- baseball can boast the most parity among the four major sports.
Eight different teams have won the last 10 World Series. In that span, almost (italics) half (end italics), or 14 clubs, have reached the World Series.
In the American League, in the last decade alone, only three teams failed to win their respective divisions (Baltimore, Toronto, and Kansas City).
Such parity is the result of the revenue sharing system which Selig and the owners implemented in 2004 and for which he's given too little credit.
After a delayed response to the scourge of PEDs, baseball now has the the most efficient and toughest drug-testing procedure of the four majors, and starting this season, is the first to collectively bargain with its Players Association for the right to test for HGH use.
(And what odds do you think you could have gotten on that, say, a decade ago in Las Vegas?).
All of which is not to suggest that Selig's recent reign has been unblemished. The game did a poor job vetting Frank McCourt as owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and that carelessness sullied one of the game's premiere franchises.
Additionally, Selig, known for his deliberative nature and consensus-building, has been far too slow to respond to dire stadium situations in both Oakland and St. Petersberg.
But the positives far away out the negatives. And public perception aside-- almost without exception, fans detest every commissioner -- Selig's achievements are impossible to ignore.
The game has never had as many fans or been as profitable as it is now. At some point, shouldn't its commissioner get some credit for that?