Bud Selig And A League Of Extraordinary White Gentlemen

I know we said we'd be on auto-pilot this week, but for the second straight day, we've got some eyebrow raising news that just doesn't sit right with your editor.

Upon first glance, I wanted to give kudos to Bud Selig for forming a 14-person committee to take a look at some of Major League Baseball's issues.  It is a step in the right direction for a sport that seems so set on not moving into the 21st century.

And then I take a look at the committee ... and it appears as if baseball is intent on not moving into the new era.

Of the 14 members in Selig's committee, Frank Robinson, baseball's first African American manager, is the only representative of a minority group.  A deeper look into the committee reveals no Latino rep.

I'm not writing this because as someone who represents that demographic.  Instead, I make this post because if you take a look at the baseball's landscape and it is full of Latin ballplayers and managers.  Yet, you can't get one representative from that area?  I'm kind of shocked.

Baseball's best player, Albert Pujols, comes from a Dominican Republic background and plays in a city where at any given time, the only people with Latin backgrounds are Pujols, Yadier Molina, (and on the rare occasion) me.

Do you think Pujols, a known humanitarian and a guy who has yet to be linked to performance-enhancing drugs, would be a fit representative for a group that makes up a good chunk of major league talent?

How about Ozzie Guillen, the first Latin-born manager to win a World Series?  For all his flaws, he's an ambassador to the game of baseball.

Even if Pujols and Guillen politely declined, Selig could have found at least one current or former ballplayer or manager to be a guy who spoke up.  If I wanted to get into it more, I'd note there is no oriental rep either.

So, who's on board?  Tony La Russa (age 65), Jim Leyland (age 65), Mike Scioscia (age 58), Joe Torre (age 69),Terry Ryan (age 56), Andy MacPhail (age 56), John Schuerholz (age 69).

Mark Shapiro (age 42) is the youngest member of the committee.  And still white.

Among the other old white men own reps include Chuck Armstrong of the Seattle Mariners, Paul Beeston of the Toronto Blue Jays, Bill DeWitt of the St. Louis Cardinals and Dave Montgomery of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Oh, then there's columnist George Will (age 68) ... and guess what ... still white.

"A League Of Extraordinary White Gentlemen," coming to meeting room near you.