After NFL Calls Off this Week’s Games, Most Other U.S. Sports Follow Suit

Although encouraged by Washington to resume play at his discretion, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday that the more he thought about the mood of the country in the aftermath of Tuesday’s “horrific events,” he couldn’t consider taking that step before Monday.

Thus, after postponing games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday because of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, Selig followed the decision of the NFL to call off its Sunday games by also postponing all games through Sunday. He said play would resume Monday.

A total of 91 games will have been postponed, the most in a non-labor situation since almost the entire month of September was canceled in 1918 because of World War I.

“I believe in the sanctity of the 162-game schedule,” Selig said. So they will now be played during the first week of October. The season was scheduled to end Sept. 30 but will now end Oct. 7. The division series, scheduled to begin Oct. 2, will begin Oct. 9. The changes will delay the start of the World Series from Oct. 19 to Oct. 27, meaning it could end in November for the first time. In fact, Game 7 could be played on Nov. 4, if not later because of weather postponements.

“I’m not worried about that,” Selig said. “Fortunately, we have a lot of West Coast teams, a lot of warm-weather teams, involved in the races.”

By playing the full and adjusted schedule, the integrity of those races will be preserved. In addition, Barry Bonds, who needs eight home runs to break Mark McGwire’s record of 70 in a season, will get a complete run at it, and the retiring Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. will play their final games at home instead of on the road.

“We absolutely think Bud made the right call,” Dodger President Bob Graziano said. “We trust and respect his judgment and are totally supportive.”

Selig said that the 30 teams will make a substantial contribution to the recovery efforts in New York and Washington, that players will wear an American flag on their uniforms when play resumes and that fans attending Monday’s games (or Tuesday’s when some teams return) will receive a small American flag and be asked to sing “God Bless America.”

In a statement, Selig said: “While I recognize that the suffering from this horrific tragedy continues, I believe that in a spirit of national recovery and a return to normalcy, major league baseball as a social institution can be most helpful by returning to play at the appropriate time. I believe that time is Monday.”

Selig had notified the clubs Wednesday that they should be prepared to play Friday, and officials at the players’ union had predicted that would be his call, but in an interview from his Milwaukee office Thursday he said there were a “myriad of factors and complications,” including travel and logistics, and that he never “ruled anything in or out.”

“Some people wanted me to start on Friday, some on Saturday, some on Sunday,” he said. “Some people even wanted me to play [Thursday night]. I mean, this was all I’ve agonized over for three days, and there was no constituency that I wasn’t concerned about.”

Although some in the industry felt that Selig didn’t want to be out there alone, playing after the NFL and most college conferences postponed or canceled their weekend games, he insisted that the NFL decision had “very little” to do with his own.

“They had to do what they had to do,” he said. “The one given from the time I started thinking about it was that in fairness to the clubs and races, I wanted to find a way to play a complete schedule.”

Jerry Colangelo, managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, arrived in Milwaukee for an owners’ meeting on Monday and was still there Thursday, unable to leave because of the airport and flight closures.

“I spent a lot of hours with Bud in his office over the last few days and know how he agonized over this,” Colangelo said. “Yes, it was a matter of when we would play again, but I don’t think it was a matter of his being influenced by the NFL or any of the college conferences .... He talked to a lot of people, dealt with our own circumstances and made the right decision.”

The fact that President Bush has declared today a national day of prayer and remembrance factored into his decision, and the concerns about travel were a significant complication.

Several teams, caught on the road by Tuesday’s events, chartered buses Thursday to get home. Said an American League executive: “Bud had the difficult job of measuring the mood of the country and the psyche of the public in deciding whether to play games this weekend, but he also had to consider the mind-set of the gladiators who have to take it on the field. Many of them, especially those caught on the road, haven’t had a chance to properly mourn, to embrace their families. Yes, they have a job to do and they’re paid well to do it, but they’re human like the rest of us, and I think Bud felt they all needed a chance to sit back and catch their breath at home.”

The San Francisco Giants, for example, were still stranded in Houston Thursday, and second baseman Jeff Kent said, “Our guys would just like to get home and hug our wife and kids and know things are safe with them. I think it was a great gesture we held off [resuming play]. Next week we’ll be able to come back, turn the page and move on.”

Bonds concurred, saying he had no desire to discuss the impact on his home run pursuit, that he only wanted to be with his family. He said that he “hurt and cared” for the victims of Tuesday’s attack as everyone else does, but “people want to know what their leaders are thinking, not us.”

The Dodgers and Angels have been home during the difficult week. The Angels will resume play Tuesday in Seattle, with the Mariners now having a chance to clinch the American League West at their own Safeco Field rather than Anaheim’s Edison Field. The Dodgers, who were scheduled to spend the weekend in San Francisco, will resume play Monday against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium.

A series between the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates, scheduled to begin Monday at Shea Stadium, will be played at Pittsburgh instead.

Asked if there would be increased security at Dodger Stadium as a result of Tuesday’s events, Graziano said, “We’ve always felt comfortable with our security arrangements, but we’re always reviewing, and I imagine that we’ll continue to do that over the weekend. At this point we haven’t made any specific changes.”

Sandy Alderson, Selig’s executive vice president for baseball operations, said Thursday there have been ongoing discussions with the FBI, local security advisors and stadium operations personnel, but “security has always been a paramount concern of baseball. Obviously, in light of the tragic events of this week, we have redoubled our efforts in all respects.”