Hernandez Says Selig Hurt Labor Relations

Former New York Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez believes last week’s election of Bud Selig as baseball commissioner will hurt labor relations.

Speaking last week at a panel on baseball in the 21st century, Hernandez said he didn’t follow baseball for four or five years after his retirement following the 1990 season, but was glad to see the game rebounding after the 1994-95 strike and World Series cancellation.

“I just can only see (Selig’s election), as far as labor relations are concerned, just furthering the mistrust between labor and ownership,” he said.

Hernandez criticized Selig for presiding over expansion that was too rapid for the game.

“For the owners, it was all a money deal, without any regard for the betterment of the game, just to put money in their pockets,” he said. “Right now, although the game is fine and has great players, there are too many players out there, there’s too many teams. (Baseball) expanded too fast, and it’s under Selig’s watch.”

Hernandez said the players were more powerful than Selig because they were solidly behind union president Donald Fehr.

“How are you going to get all the owners together and agree on one thing? It’s already been proven they can’t,” he said.

Former player and broadcaster Tim McCarver said he believed that Selig “will ultimately wean himself away” from his fellow owners.

“How do you do that completely? I don’t know how it’s possible to do it completely,” McCarver told the panel, sponsored by the “21” Club as part of its series of discussions on life in the 21st century.

Former New York Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton, a frequent critic of baseball’s establishment, lashed out at owners such as George Steinbrenner who have threatened to move teams for better stadium deals.