bud selig

Hall-of-fame baseball writer Hal McCoy knows a thing or two about America's pastime. If you want to tap into that knowledge, send an e-mail to halmccoy@hotmail.com. For more Ask Hal, log on to DaytonDailyNews.com/reds. Q Have you officially named Aroldis Chapman the Cuban Defector, and why not call him the Cuban Trajector?  

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig admitted he has put his ideas for realignment on paper, but that's as far as it has gone thus far. Selig spoke at Maryvale Baseball Park during a spring training game between the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. There have been reports in recent weeks that 1 of the subjects the 14-person special committee Selig designated four months ago was the idea of "floating realignment" in which teams would not be fixed to a division, but free to change divisi  

Tweaking the postseason schedule. Eliminating the link between the All-Star game and World Series. Adding replay for fair-or-foul calls down the lines.  

Citing an unidentified source close to the situation, CBSSports.com reported that Auburn is "close" to hiring Smith. But the Minnesota coach denied that and said he has not been offered a job by any other school. "Obviously it's just talk because I'm very pleased with what we've accomplished here. I'm pleased with where we are in the program," Smith said after Minnesota's loss Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  

USA Today recently gathered a group of eight baseball figures to discuss ways to improve the game, and one of several interesting topics was fan safety. If I were a member of this panel, I would have taken this a step further and added "player safety" to the discussion. In both cases, it has to do with shattered bats, which all too frequently continue to go flying in all directions.

I don't know if (the use of maple bats) is because of a shortage of wood or what   -Joe Maddon

 

Ah, fantasy baseball. Where real life combines with make belief in a beautiful fusion of mixed allegiances and sporting know-how with bragging rights on the line. It's just 15 sleeps to Opening Day, and if you want to pit your baseball wits against some of the best in the business, here's your chance.  

Baseball forever will be known as a game without a clock, but the passing of time has been an area of some concern for America's pastime, particularly in recent years. When it comes to the leisurely pace of the game and the lack of time constraints -- qualities at the very heart of baseball's charm for many -- sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. So for the last two seasons, Major League Baseball has taken watching the clock to a new level, mandating that teams and players keep up a brisk

Baseball has its own rhythm, and we don't ever want to artificially change that   -Jimmie Lee Solomon

 

The push for the blood testing of athletes was front and center in two sports Thursday, with two championship boxers agreeing to undergo such testing and Major League Baseball reiterating that it was moving forward to do the same in its minor leagues. In boxing, Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley announced that they would allow the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees the testing of Olympic athletes, to test their blood and urine leading up to their bout May 1. It is the first time Usada will conduct

Major League Baseball representatives have publicly stated numerous times, including at the Partnership for Clean Competition conference hosted at our offices two weeks ago, that we are currently exploring the feasibility of conducting blood testing for HGH in the minor leagues as soon as possible   -Rob Manfred

 

The Arizona House approved a bill Thursday to help finance a new spring-training facility for the Chicago Cubs after the sponsor stripped controversial details from the measure and promised to keep looking for a compromise with opponents. The House's 35-19 vote sends the measure to the Senate with key provisions still unclear, including the amount of a proposed ticket surcharge. The Cubs declined an offer to move their training home to Naples, Fla., and have agreed to continue training in Mesa, Ariz.,

I don't intend to push this bill any further in the Senate until we have agreement amongst all of those parties   -John McComish