Course the worst part is, since Millar’s ‘strength’ as a ball player is his clubhouse presence, the statue will be of him in a jock strap. Ick.

Is there a fund that we can donate to so this can happen?

Absolutely. Bud Selig was the cornerstone of the Brewers franchise for its first couple of decades and the reason Milwaukee has a major league baseball. There’s nothing surprising or amazing about this story – it’s a well deserved tribute.

and, no, I absolutely wouldn’t want a statue of any owner or baseball exec who was complicit in and used their influence to keep african-americans out of mlb in front of my team’s stadium. hell no.

it really depends on what anyone would consider “the good of the sport.” Generally, people mean that the sport is making money (hence, more fans = better), but is that necessarily the case? Isn’t there something to be said for a sport that may not be as widespread in appeal, but whose fans’ intensity dwarfs other sports?

Furthermore, baseball was already increasing in popularity before the homerun record chase. Just because the two things happened at the same time, does not mean that they were related (remember, correlation does not imply causation). It’s just as likely that baseball became more popular because the traditional powerhouse Yankees started winning again. Or it’s certainly possible that the success of MLB was due more to a time of economic prosperity in the late 90’s, which allowed more people to go to games and watch them on television. To ascribe the success and popularity of MLB to the homerun chase is not just lazy, it’s also probably wrong.

And, finally, does it do a credit to the sport that two of its most revered records are now held by a cheater and a felon? Has this really improved baseball in your opinion? Let’s conclude this way: How many homeruns did Barry Bonds hit over his career? How many did Hank Aaron? How many did Babe Ruth? There are reasons that everyone still knows Aaron’s and Ruth’s totals.