Major League Baseball - Model Sports Organization???

For years, Major League Baseball has been criticized, and rightly so, for it's inability to get out of it's own way. They have had a multitude of labor stoppages over the past 40 years (8, to be exact) - the most infamous being the one in 1994 that cancelled the World Series. Baseball took the brunt of the wrath spewed forth by opportunistic congressmen when the steroids scandal erupted thanks to Jose Canseco's book. There is the enduring image highlighting the general ineptitude of baseball, with Bud Selig looking confused as the All-Star Game ended in a tie.

And yet, suddenly baseball appears to be ahead of the other sports in terms of handling their issues. Since 2002, there has been labor peace. Even though their collective bargaining agreement is up after this year, there are no threats of a lockout, unlike the NFL and the NBA. In fact, both Selig and the player's union are optimistic that a new CBA will be agreed upon in the near future.

Despite the bad rap that the MLB gets for steroids and performance enhancing drugs, the truth is that baseball not only has the strictest penalties for using such substances, but they appear to have fewer players using them. It is not uncommon to hear that a football player got suspended for PEDs, yet no one really seems to care. Meanwhile, if a baseball player gets caught, it's a travesty and an affront to everything that society holds sacred. Little bit of a double standard there, and a completely undeserved one.

And now, the MLB finds itself on the forefront of the concussion issue. Although concussions are a much bigger problem in the NFL and NHL, baseball has created a new seven day disabled list strictly for players who have gotten a concussion. This way, rather than lose a player for 15 days when they could be ready to play in a week, the team can get that player back when he is healthy. With all the talk of the NFL trying to force an 18 game schedule down the player's throats, why has this concept not been brought up in their meetings? Why has the NHL not adopted something like this, so that players that will be gone for a game or two do not take up a roster spot?

Bud Selig and Major League Baseball make for easy targets when one looks to rip a sports organization for mismanagement. However, baseball actually has it's act together. Shocking, is it not?