If indeed there is no crying in baseball, a sentiment popularized by a classic line from the movie "A League of Their Own," then surely there is no booing in Cooperstown. But, as Bud Selig, could attest, there was a little of both during the 78th Hall of Fame induction ceremony July 30.
As the game's ninth commissioner, Selig presided over a period of unprecedented financial growth and ushered in a sorely needed era of labor peace that included an overdue drug testing program. But for the general public it wasn't enough to hide the two black marks of his tenure -- the strike that left the 1994 season without a World Series and the so-called Steroid Era that demolished home run records and eventually led to the testing agreement.
Selig was one of two executives inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame, along with Baltimore native John Schuerholz, and former players Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. To say Selig got a lukewarm reception from a crowd of approximately 27,500, you would have to tune out the smattering of boos that accompanied his introduction -- perhaps the first time an HOF inductee got less than a positive reaction.
