YouSaid · the spoken record

Bud Selig

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2021-04-08
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2021-04-08
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  1. “I worked on it. I worked on that for a long time. I had Frank Robinson, who was a great player himself, as you well remember, who for 20 years, and he and Henry and I would spend a lot of time together. That was always the subject of debate. And I guess my answer to you on that score is it's an issue that I've worked on for 50 years and I still don't know the answer. I think we're doing better now. We have some very good young players. The minor leagues are now really, really have a lot of good African American players. So I hope that we're doing better on that score. I believe that we are. Yes, it bothers me a lot. I don't mind telling you.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Well, I know there's a lot of controversy about it, but I like analytics. The only thing that I would say to you about Analytics, yeah, I do. I think it's improving, but the human element shouldn't be eliminated. For instance, even in scouting today, they use analytics. The most important thing you do, I've always sent scouts to people. I want to know about their heart, their mind, want to know who they are. The analytics can't tell me that. I think there's got to be a combination. I'm not against it, but there were other things I would do along with it.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Exactly right. So I look, can they do things? Look, I happen to, Henry Aaron used to grumble to me. I just had 23 years he said he never got out of the batter's box. And he said, if I had, Drysdale or Gibson would have killed you on the next pitch. Now, guys get out of the batteries box, adjust everything back in Mun, and I'm telling you between a pitch clock and that and keeping a guy in a batter's box, I think you can really, really make some changes. But they're working on it. And I'm not naive, David, I think the future of the game is very, very good. But there's work to be done. Look, let me give you a pragmatic example. Steve Cohn just paid two and a half billion dollars for the Mets. Smart guy, you think he would have paid two and a half billion if he thought the sport was Think so.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Well, there's no question there are some problems. There always are problems, you know, and look, but I want to say this to you. I retell a story and Rob and people have heard this story. 1958, there was a sports editor here by the name of Oliver. Nearly here and there, but he went to Dallas at the AP sports editors. And he said, baseball is moribund, dying. The young generation wants football and likes to pro football and likes this, and pro football's had a meteoric rise. But here we are 63 years later and the sport more popular than ever, it has problems. They're working on those problems. And I think there are some things going on that will be good. Look, do I think it's still the greatest game? I do. But are there problems? Yes, but are they trying to solve their problems? I think Rob Manford has been very...”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “That's right. That's right. Whom I was extremely close to. If you can reconfigure your life, then you can apply for reinstatement. He lives in Las Vegas, David. He's never reconfigured his life.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “The suspension on, and I believe that that's right because I met with Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Mike Schmidt brought him to my office in Milwaukee. And they all had different views, but that's another story. And I met with Pete, and he had called a lot of my players, and he said, Jan, well, you're hosts a lot of players. And I asked him point blank. I said, how did you gamble? I've seen all the stuff from Dowd and everything else. And David, believe me, there was no question. He swore to me that he had. Three years later, when the day that Malader and Eckersley were getting in the Hall of Fame, he announced that he had gambled on baseball. So I'll rest my case.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “The first time I was on a major league clubhouse would have been May of 1958. I'm just a kid. The first thing I saw was a huge sign by Ford C. Frick, then commissioner, which said, which said, That if you gambled, you were suspended for life. So, David, we were all raised in this sport, okay? We were all raised in this sport that understand that gambling is the worst of all sins. And because if you and I go to game in Wrigley tomorrow, and if there's a scintilla of doubt, the sport is done. And so what Barti Amati, whom I loved, had a commissioner in those days before he passed away, was right. I give everybody else since then, Vay Vincent, Rob Manfred, everybody else has kept him.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Because we are a social institution. And I kept thinking to myself, and I often thought about Hooten and Garibaldi, my God, there are kids watching our players who think this is okay. Yeah, that did disturb me, David. No question.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Me tell you what happened at a hearing in Washington. I got there early, not realizing this was going to be a terrible day. I got there early and there were two parents, Don Houghton and Bob Garibaldi, talking about their sons, high school baseball players who took steroids and committed suicide, took high-powered steroids. Well, I remember that day thinking, oh my God, and then as day went on, it was bad. I called Hutton the next day. He didn't believe it was me. He had to call me back. And he has since done work for baseball on steroids, goes to every city. We conduct seminars for inner city kids and so on and so forth. So I really, in the Bonds case, he was involved with Balco, convicted of perjury, make a long story short. Look, I took it personally.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Exactly right. That's exactly right. Look, I went on the, because I had to go and Henry called me every day when Bonds was regarding Henry was great about it. He wasn't great about Bonds. I mean, I have to be very candid with him, but he was great about, he worried about me and I shouldn't take it seriously. And people thought, including Barry, that the reason I felt the way I did is because of my relationship with Henry. That wasn't true. There was no question about my relationship with Henry, but look, let's get back to social institution again. My students get tired of me talking about it.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Tell you, David, the myth about that. Our attendance went down after the 98 season for 99. So people said that, but I really, look, I've never had an owner meeting where it wasn't 100% where owners saying, you got to solve that problem. Nobody said, hey, we're making money within this. Never once, David. So I'm telling you from 98 on, I was bound and determined because I really thought it threatened the integrity of the game.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Today it's the toughest testing program in American sports and the toughest testing program in America. And Water, the World Anti-Doping Association and USADA, United States Anti, who used to be very criticalists are very complementary. So it had a happy ending, but a lot of pain, a lot of heartache. There are a lot of people actually. I like Sammy so I really did. I had a great relationship with him. But then we had a hearing in Washington where Raphael Palmero and Sammy all of a sudden couldn't speak English and it was just not a good story.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “So, the best we could get in 1990. Well, you know, Bud and at baseball were slow to react. David, this is a subject of collective bargaining. I banned steroids in the miners in 2000 for the 01 season. There I could do that unilaterally, but I couldn't do it otherwise. And so they fought us. I mean, it was one of the great fights. There was no question. It went on and on. I could go back and forth. It was wrong. I used to say to Don They're illegal. Not only is it immoral what it's doing to the game, but And Rob Manford was very much involved. And I look, today, I guess the only thing I can tell you, starting in 02, where we had testing.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Me tell you my recollection of it. That's a very fair question. In'98, there was a writer in Pittsburgh, Steve Wilstey, the AP, who found a bottle of Andro in Mark Maguire's locker. That started. Have talked to Andy McPhail and John Sherholes, and Macphail was in Chicago member and Cheryl's in Atlanta. A lot of GMs were like a lot. And nobody really knew. Now, when I went to the pharmacy the next day, I'll never forget a drugist, so I still takes care of us, said it's over there, can buy it, and so on and so forth. The union fought us. The union had always fought us. Remember this. In the 80s, we had a serious cocaine problem. If you remember the Pittsburgh drug trials, 29 guys got convicted, four went to jail. And they still wouldn't agree. And the union fought us, and they've done it publicly. If Don were here today, Fair or Gene Orzer, they couldn't deny it. And I don't think we'll.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “And I said one more time, there's a thousand media people out there. And if you want to continue, I'm going out to them, you broke your word. And I also think you want to vote to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and Detroit and Milwaukee and tell them the little guys don't deserve a baseball team. With that, that broke up the meeting. So yes, it was a real confrontation.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Could tell he was embarrassed, but so Clinton says this and that, and I said, finally said to him, kept thinking about my mother and dad if I knew I was sitting talking to President of the United States, Mr. Prezi, you gave me your word that whatever us we came up with, well, we can't accept that the union won't accept it. We get in a meeting. President Stereo Stefanopoulos is there, Panetta's there. The Labor Secretary is there. I didn't agree with on much of anything. But anyway, And Al Gore starts in, and he says, I'm sick and tired of. This and I'm sick and tired of the little guys getting in the way here. The little guys happen to be the small markets. Well, I sat there and took it as long as I can and finally I exploded.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “And imagine if we had done that. To make a long story short. Meeting kind of breaks up for a while, and the next thing Leon Panetta comes to be and says, President, we'd like to see it. Leon Panetta was very close to George Mitchell as I was.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “And I liked us re but had a lot of disagreements with him. He calls me in early February and says, you got to come to Washington. And I did. Our whole labor committee was there. My daughter, Wendy, Jerry Reinsdorf, John Harrington of the Red Sox, whole group. And I meet with Ashri, and he gives me the plan. And you know, I have to admit, I didn't like it, but it could have been worse. And it was fair. So he said he'd be right back to me. The next thing I know we get a call to come to the White House. I knew that. David, yes, I called every, I called Herb. I called Joe Lieberman. I called Chris Dodd. I called everybody. Nobody knew what was going on. We get to White House and it troubled. Al Gore, that Bill Clinton takes over, but then he sort of disappears. We can't accept the union who called A senile SOB, you'll pardon my language.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Yeah, oh, it's very true. Nobody denied it. They all read it, by the way, in my book. Look, here's what happened. On the fourteenth of october, That year, 94. Don Fair, head of the Union, I get called to the White House. Clinton had said to me, I had heard beforehand that he wanted to go to mediation and Bill Usery, who was the most famous labor mediator since, well, he started with Harry Truman. So he served every president. And would we agree to mediation? The owners didn't want to do it, but I told them I thought we should. David Glass, who owned Kansas City Royals and Hillary, was on his board so. Walmart, so he sort of said to me, let's do it and please. So I went there and the president gave me his word that he would accept. Whatever us we came up with. And so for the next four months, we battled.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “And I mean, this was a ninth work stoppage. It was really difficult. But I'm proud to say an 02 and 6 and 11. And then again in 15, we had the longest labor piece in history. So I think we learned our lesson. I don't know what's going to happen next, I'm concerned. We have a tense, tough relationship.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Yeah, who would say to me, the other sports have that we're not asking for half as much as they have. Football had a cap. Basketball has a cap, hockey even has a cap now. Well, this union was not going to... Give us a And unfortunately, I had held the owners together, and I really do believe Don Fair, who's head of the union, miscalculated, but we lost a world series, which was a heartbreaking, terrible moment. I just can't tell you what a terrible moment that was. And you're right, later on in 95, the end of thing Judge Sonia Sodom ruled against us.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “I know she is. Oh gosh, I know. Look, let me just say this. I had taken over 92. We had already had eight work stoppages in my career started in 1970. We had a poisonous relationship with the Players Association. And then... Then we had a bunch of new owners, Drayton McLean in Houston, David Glasgow and Kansas, and a bunch of new ones who wanted a cap. And Stan Caston, who was president of Atlanta Braves and Hawks.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Right. But we needed to provide hope and faith. Well Fortunately, and I did this every day in my commissionership, especially in the early days, we finally by 2011 got up to $500 million of revenue shrink. I'm proud of that. But if, look, if you want to have a sport where you have competition and you have the Chicagos, the LA's, the New Yorks, Boston, and then you have Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Milwaukee, the Twin Cities. On, on, most of your franchises, you can't provide hope and faith unless you have an economic system, David, that works.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Got 25 teams that can't win. I said, Well, that's why you're here, and I like you guys, but we have a problem. And that's what this was all about. Pete Roselle, whom I had a lot of respect for, always used to see on any given Sunday.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Is provide hope and faith in as many places as is possible. You can't have a sport. And I used to tell George that, George, you aren't any smarter than I am. You bought a team in New York. You're from Cleveland I don't mean Cleveland despairingly, but I mean, you know, he had six or eight million households and I had 600,000. Yeah. And I'd say to him, You can't have. I had a blue ribbon committee that I brought, and I used a lot, but 1998 was Paul Voker. Senator Mitchell, George Will, and Rick Levin, who is the president of Yale in the economy. And after a couple of meetings, They were a very independent group, as I promised. Paul Volcker came to me and said, you know, Commissioner.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “And I were actually, we never agreed on anything, but for some reason, look, let me tell you you could see what was happening in the 80s and early 90s. It all started with Georgia's deal with MSG, where he got $40 or $50 million of brewers were getting like 20 grand. The Mets weren't even getting this kind of money. And you knew disparity was a new word. So let me tell you what happened. We started on revenue sharing. First, we lost the World Series because of people wanted a cap and I understood that. But in 1996, Passed our first revenue. When I took over a 92 day, but not a nickel of revenue shine. Not a nickel. One thing that a commissioner has to do”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “That's what caused the political upheaval. That was George Pete. Was George B deck and he was recalled and received, and that's what caused David the heartache.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “Economics Department and the UWM, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Economics Department together. There's over 300, and this was five years ago, 330 million dollars. Well, nobody ever talks about that during the debate. So is Milwaukee?”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “County stadium was falling apart. We didn't have a choice. And I also knew with new stadiums after Camden Yards that we were going to have to have to have a new stadium. And what we put up with was just, look, and by the way, the public was with us. It was really interesting. There was just a lot of political shenanigans. I called it cheap demagoguery, but you call it anything you want. But finally, after four years, three or four years, we did get it done, and it was quite a battle. And guess what, David? All the critics are gone. The brewers average in a decent year 3 million people a year. I mean, it's a great thing from Milwaukee. And I did a study because it not only sociologically makes your city a better place, but I had the University of Wisconsin.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “Right, I've described it as the most disappointing, and I'll tell you why, and I understand look raised taxes one tenth of one cent, by the way, one tenth of one cent. But the politicians engaged in demagoguery that was frightened. Now, you would understand it better than me because you've been involved in it, but it was, look, here I was. The ownership group and with me, obviously, trying to keep a team here. This wasn't Brooklyn, David. This was desperate.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “Think you did, of course, and that's absolutely right. I often have people say to me, What did you guys talk about when you were a room? We were roommates the last two years in college? You know, we talked about everybody thought who could have ever believed we both wind up running the two teams here in Mononi and two teams in Milwaukee was remarkable. But you're absolutely right.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “I was so happy and I kept thinking about all the people. And you know, the one thing in the first couple years of the brewers that I probably didn't quite understand, even though I've lived here all my life, born and raised, obviously, was how angry people were and hurt. But of course, once Yount and Molleter and Cooper and we got good, all that went away.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “Struggle. I never forgot that. And so when we finally got a team on the night of March 31st, 1970 from Seattle, I took a long walk cold as it was, you know how March nights are around here.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “Broke its heart. I remember a story that I tell around here the last game of the year, 1965, and the last game before the Braves had been forced to stay. I'm sitting in the stands with a couple of my partners, and we had formed a brewer's already, and a woman walks up, handicapped woman from a prominent family here, and she said to me, are you bud sealing? I said, yes, I'm just 30 years old at that time. I'm 31. And she said, and tears are streaming down her face. And she said, do you understand what this means to all of us? Do you have any idea? And she broke down. And then she pointed her finger at me and it took us five and a half years to get a team went to a lot of heartache, but finally got it. And she said, Don't you fail, you're all we got. And those through a lot of disappointments and through a lot of years of”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “Well, I understand that. My whole point. It broke Brooklyn's heart. And that was the lesson to be learned. That's the one franchise shift if I had been commissioner that frankly I would have stopped. But anyway, it means a great deal. I know what it meant here. I know what it's meant in other places. It gives the community a feel. You know, two questions I used to ask when they were debating about a ballpark. Will it make the community a better place to live? And of course, what are the economic considerations? And there's no question what it does for a community. It gives it identity. I mean, you look back on the Brooklyn Dodgers or the Chicago Cubs or the Los Angeles Dodgers now or even the Brewers or the St. Louis Cardinals. David, it's hard to conceive of those communities without a team.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “Well, I do. I spend a lot of time, a lot, a lot. In this regard, I have often said, David, the sociological effect is far more important than the economics are good in spite of what you've heard. Best stadium. But when you look back on, and this is a little bit controversial, but on Walter O'Malley leaving Brooklyn,”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “Yeah, she did, and I'll tell you a funny story now that I think of it. I'd be on the road. And sometimes I couldn't get a score. And if my wife wasn't home, I'd call her. By the way, she answered the phone. I knew whether we had won or lost. Hello. Yeah, she would give me some advice. What about this guy who maybe struck out twice with two men on base or something? But she lived and died with her.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “Win the first game 10 to nothing. I call her on about the seventh inning. She picks up the phone and said, Buddy, we're doing okay. And I went over there and granddaughters were there. And then she flew back with the team. But even during the world, she was so apologetic. And, oh, how could this have happened to me? But she lived and died every out of the world series, right to the end.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “A minor league growers, and then she great fan until the Braves came to Milwaukee, became a Braves fan. And I can't tell you, of course, I was in school and this and that, but every time I'm home, she and I went to ball games together. Of course, when we got the brewers, she never missed a game, David, from 197. I'm going to say till 87 or 88 when unfortunately Alzheimer's really came in. And then she couldn't. But in 82, we're in the World Series against the Cardinals. And of course, my mother's in St. Louis. And she's walking to the ballpark from the hotel, and unfortunately she broke her hip. And so she winds up in Jewish hospital in St. Louis.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “I did, and I never, I mean, she was a teacher, she was a school teacher and a school teacher to her dying day. But she just loved the game, just loved the game. I asked her how she became fans. Where I used to start listening to them. And then she'd take me to Borchard Field, which was the old American Association Park that the Boris played in.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “And so I saw a lot of games at Wrigley, and every time the Yankees came to Chicago, I was at Komiski Park. But it's my mother who really, no question, made me a fan.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “It continued. She was amazing and a funny story about it. We were having a fraternity thing. This would be 1956, I think. And we had a big luncheon. I was president of attorney. And of course, Herb Cole and others there. My mother, much to my father's chagrin, had a transistor radio in her ear. And in the midst of it, she yells out, how do you like that? Adcock just had a grand slam against the Dodgers. And everybody laughed and applauded. But that was my mother's intensity. And so I can say my sort of obsession with baseball and love for baseball came from my mother. My dad would take me to Wrigley Field for the Brave Came here or Kamiski as a way to spend time together, and he became a fan, he had no choice because of my mother, obviously. Did.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “He came here when she was four, became a college graduate, which you know in those days, that was really unusual. My dad did not, but my mother did. And in the 30s, as I began to grow up, I was born in 34, she be listening to baseball games, Milwaukee Brewer games. They were in the American Association in those days, but she also listened to a lot of cub games and White Sox games. I began to She's the one that made me a fan. There's no question about it. And to her dying day.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “Henry was an unbelievably great right fielder with a great arm, great bass runner. I'll tell you what Henry was. Quiet, thoughtful, not a guy who, and then I think for a long time that hurt him in terms of public. It's only in the last 20 or 25 years that the Henry Allen story really, and look, Willie Maze is a phenomenal player. I'm partial. I said to you.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “Yeah, for breaking Beibulu's record. I mean, it was just, it really was horrible. The love and affection I had for him. And I could tell you a lot of stories when his home in Mobile, where he was raised with five kids, parents, I think the home maybe was 400 square feet. Maybe. Maybe not even that. And I went down because they made it a national symbol and so on and so forth. And I remember thinking to myself, oh my goodness. Look what he became and look at he raised. Now, look, I'm partial. I think he was the greatest player of our generation. I know there are a lot of Willie Mays fans and I understand that.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “And he cry. My hank wouldn't mindly tell him. It was really, so Hen As many have said at the funeral where I was to eulogize him, he had a great social conscience. And I can't tell you what he would have said, nor would I because I don't know. I can only guess. Will tell you, he felt a very deep obligation. To be socially active in this whole area.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “Obviously, I don't know. You're right. He and I were really close friends for 62 years. I missed the calls, or at least he called two, three times a week. And I knew Henry really, really well. I could spend the rest of the time on that. He was very socially active. So is his wife Billy? And cared a great deal about life. And he had, if you'll remember, if I could digress her. When I got them back, he came up early in January of 1975. And his assistant called and she said, We were having dinner at seven o'clock. She said, can you come down to the hotel at six? I said, well, I'm going to have dinner at seven. What did he want to show me? All the letters, a lot of the letters, the hate mail he had got. So just the two of us in the room, two old friends now is playing for my team And the male David was as disgusting as you can imagine.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “No question. Just think about that. It was 18 years before the Civil Rights. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about that later on. I mean, the Jackie Robinson story was an amazing story.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “It's three and a half years before Harry Truman desegregated the United States Army, seven years before Brown v. Board of Education, and 18 years before the Civil Rights Movement. I don't think even we understood what a great moment that was. I believe, as a historian, I believe that Jackie Robinson and Brantrick are two of the most important people in America in the 20th century.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “That's right. It was Jackie Robinson's first game. We got a couple tickets and we went, we were in the upper deck. And you know, David, the thing I'll always remember, I looked around, I'm 13 years old. And we were the only white people in the upper deck. And the excitement was just wonderful. Outside of Wrigley, there must have been, I don't know, 15, 20,000 people who couldn't get in. And it's a day I'll never forget. It made an indelible mark on me. And if I could just say one more thing to you about Robinson, because you talked about it.”

    2021-04-08 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 437 — Bud Selig · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source