Tavares Blasts Baseball Politics

Angel President Tony Tavares, long upset about voting rules that require three-fourths approval on many important baseball issues, blasted that situation Thursday, saying it was time to provide a new commissioner with real power.

“Anyone worth his salt is going to insist on systemic change in league rules,” Tavares said in a speech to a group of sports marketing executives in New York. “If he doesn’t, he will be a powerless commissioner.

“[As it is], if I find three other morons in my league, if it’s a good idea for the league or if it’s not, I can block something. We’ve reached the level of absurdity in baseball. The rules are absolutely absurd.”

Reached in New York, Tavares said his remarks didn’t represent a knock at acting Commissioner Bud Selig.

“The point is, we don’t have a commissioner right now,” Tavares said by phone. “We have a vacuum in leadership. I’m not saying Bud couldn’t be the commissioner, but I am saying that whoever the new commissioner is, there has to be changes. It’s like when Gary Bettman became commissioner of the NHL. He insisted on certain powers being restored to the office.”

Tavares, also president of the Mighty Ducks, has expressed frustration with baseball’s voting procedures before. He was particularly angered by the industry’s inability to produce a meaningful realignment for 1998 that would have put the Angels, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners in the National League. Owners have approved a rule change that requires only majority approval for realignment, but any club asked to switch leagues can veto it.

Tavares said a commissioner needs to be hired who would again have the power to act in the sport’s best interest and criticized industry leadership for “bargaining away” too many rights to the players’ union.

“We can’t run our own business,” he said.

Tavares said the small-market teams have lost the ability to compete, that baseball ranks last among the four major professional sports leagues because it lacks the salary controls and broader-based revenue sharing of the NFL.

Tavares cited the World Series champ Florida Marlins as characteristic of baseball’s problems.

The Marlins, he said, bought their championship and now have to tear it apart because of financial setbacks.

“This is a case study in what is wrong with baseball,” he said.

Tavares also attacked New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, who has often rejected the suggestion that he share more of his considerable local broadcasting revenue.

“George can say I don’t care about my brethren, I’ll spend what I have to spend, but he has to care,” Tavares said. “Who’s he going to play? Atlanta 81 times?”

Reached in Arizona, Selig said, “I certainly understand Tony’s frustration on many matters like realignment. I’ve talked to the clubs many times about our rules and ramifications.”

Baseball’s difficult voting procedures are compounded by the fact that the American and National leagues often have different rules and requirements. Selig wouldn’t say whether he favors changes.

In the meantime, a commissioner’s search that many believe will ultimately lead back to Selig has now taken more than a year. Selig said Thursday that he and search committee chairman Jerry McMorris, owner of the Colorado Rockies, have been reducing the list of candidates as expeditiously as possible and that it is possible they will present the finalists at the next owners meeting in March.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.