Fan News

As the head of a major sports league, you’re the person fans, players, and officials depend on to make the big decisions. Unfortunately, sometimes those big decisions backfire, and the backlash is so great, the embarrassment seems insurmountable.

However, sometimes you make majorly stupid decisions that define your career. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Major League Baseball and their commissioner, Bud Selig. What follows are five reasons I believe that Bud Selig will go down in history as the worst commissioner in sports:

Today, the Pittsburgh Pirates were rumored to be trying to trade their catcher Ryan Doumit. Teams mentioned were the Tampa Bay Rays, San Francisco Giants, and Seattle Mariners.

The Springfield Cardinals have promoted from within their community, a feature that not only builds a bond with their organization, but also reinforces relations with the fans.

Kim Inman, who has been a member of the Springfield community for the past 14 years, has joined the team as Vice President of Sales.

“The Cardinals are a strong part of this community and baseball has such great tradition,” Inman said. “I can’t wait to share my excitement and passion with all of our great fans and supporters.”

Do you consider yourself a hardcore fan of baseball history? Is your head filled with frivolous information such as the time of day the "shot heard round the world" occurred?

I like to consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable concerning the more important things that has taken place in MLB history. Being a graduate of Old School, it is hard to think that instead of younger fans knowing who has hit the most home runs in All-Star game history, they are more concerned with who has the best VORP.

The Detroit Tigers are coming off of a heart-breaking finish to their 2009 season. After squandering away the division lead to the Minnesota Twins, they lost a one-game playoff to them and missed the playoffs entirely.

The Tigers now seem focused on shredding payroll heading into the 2010 season. Edwin Jackson and Curtis Granderson have both been mentioned as possibly being on the move to lower a payroll that already sits at well over $100 million between just 10 players.

With the trading rumors swirling away, a couple of big names are being thrown around that Boston Red Sox fans are very familiar with.

At the end of the game, there's no one more reliable to finish the job than the late-inning ace, the closer. The title speaks for itself.

Though many say it is the most "overrated" position in baseball, that's hard to agree with especially because these men come in when the games are at their climax and the pressures that come with it, make this position a daunting challenge.

After all, the last three outs are also the toughest. Few know this better than the men who have excelled in these situations.

While the 2009 season as a whole was a lost cause for the New York Mets, it did hold some significance for certain players on the team.

One of those players was reliever Brian Stokes .

Last season, Stokes, 30, appeared in a career-high 69 games and pitched 70.1 innings, which were also the most in his four-year career.

All the while, the hard throwing right-hander was able to maintain a 3.97 ERA, which isn’t all that spectacular, but certainly is acceptable.