Selig's legacy is as follows: When baseball needed a strong commissioner, he was the game's nowhere man. When he did act, it was in the best interests of owners -- and not in the best interests of the game and its fans.

It is clear that over his long and rocky tenure as Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig left a massive legacy. The business and sport of major league baseball was impacted for good and for ill by the man who began his professional life selling used cars in Milwaukee. He will end his tenure as Commissioner by becoming the "Six Million Dollar Man."

As years go, 2014 was an interesting one in the sports world. Some might characterize it as depressing while others may look back on it as exhilarating. Whatever the case may be we know that at some point in the future we will look back on the year 2014 with nostalgia.

Is this really an appropriate, or necessary, gift to a pitcher who this year earned $3.75 million? If Bumgarner wants a new car, he can certainly afford to buy one, and to pick the car he really wants.

En 1994 el béisbol estuvo en peligro de extinción como jamás en su historia, la huelga que obligó a cancelar la serie mundial de ese año y que trajo a la pelota la arcaica figura del esquirol o jugadores suplentes, rememorando lo peor de la conformación de las luchas laborales en los Estados Unidos, con medio siglo de desfase.

Mr. Selig's approach to running Major League Baseball is proof that you can modernize an institution while celebrating its bond with tradition. But the lesson runs even deeper.