[Mb-civic] Playing Bush(league)-Ball, With Baseball

[Jim Burns]

The ownersip of the new Washington Nationals (the relocated Montreal
Expos), is up for grabs, amongst a slew of investor groups from whom
Major League Baseball's heirarchy, will choose. 
This, from Murray Chass, in Sunday's NEW YORK TIMES... Jim Burns 
____ 

"Congressmen in Foul Ground" 

It's bad enough when a pitcher takes it out on the next batter when a
bad pitch is hit for a home run, but when Kenny Rogers, the veteran
Texas pitcher, attacked television cameramen for no apparent reason, he
stepped well beyond the line and deserved every one of the 20 games for
which he was suspended by Commissioner Bud Selig. 

But some Republican members of Congress were even more boorish,
threatening Major League Baseball with dire consequences if it sold the
Washington Nationals to the group that includes George Soros, a
financier and philanthropist who spent some of his millions trying to
defeat President Bush last year. 

One of the threatening Republicans, Representative Tom Davis of
Virginia, is the chairman of the House committee that gave Selig a hard
time at its steroids hearing last March. As if they didn't generate
enough publicity for themselves with that hearing and one other, now the
congressmen have intruded in baseball's right to make a decision on
selling the Nationals free of coercion. 

For whatever reason, these lawmakers treat baseball more harshly than
other sports, and their effort to intimidate Selig and his aides
demonstrates that attitude, a very poor one. 

Murray Chass  (Baseball Column)

© Copyright 2005 The New York Times