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It was way back in 1992 when the young Brett Favre took his first snap as a member of the Green Bay Packers. Almost twenty years later, just about the whole country is fed up with him and is anxiously dying for the day he finally retires, not just when he says he will. Still, it can’t be denied that he has become 1 of the most respected players ever to play in the National Football League, and the sport definitely has benefited from Favre’s many successes.

There is still another man in sports with the same story. A guy who, at the ripe old age of 76, is not that much older than Favre himself. I’m, of course, referring to no other than Bud Selig, the long-time commissioner of Major League. Selig, who began his career-defining job way back in 1992 like Favre — has contributed hugely to the world of baseball. As acting commissioner from 1992 to 1998, Selig saw baseball through the strike-shortened 1994 season and instituted the “Wild Card” expansion to the playoffs, which enables four teams from each league to have the opportunity of playing baseball in October.

In 1997, Selig also launched Interleague Play into the regular season, which noted the 1st time when teams from the NL (National League) battled with teams from the AL (American League) on the same field outside of the All-Star Game and World Series. Since its inception, Interleague Play has become a yearly fan-favorite tradition and permits fanatics from, say, New York or Chicago watch as the Mets take on the Yankees or the Cubs play the White Sox.

Selig also should be honored for killing the prospect of another work stoppage in 2002. Furthermore, he oversaw 2 expansion teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays, both of whom have seen some achievements during their short histories. In addition, he is mainly the responsible person for the international competition known as the World Baseball Classic.

Regardless of all the progress Commissioner Selig can account for, he has, like Favre, done his lasting mark, and it’s time to hang up the towel. In the past few years, Favre has made some questionable calls, to say the least, and the same can be said for Selig. After announcing the MLB All-Star game a draw in 2002 for the 1st time in the history, Selig confessed to being “terribly saddened” by the game’s turn out. Selig made a decision to take what was already the best all-star game in all of sports and change it.

Throughout every midsummer classic after 2002, the team who won was awarded home field advantage in the World Series. The All-Star game is expected to come at a time when the players get a couple of days off during the demanding season; they don’t need something so decisive at stake during their “vacation.” They want to take in the monster home runs during the annual Home Run Derby and have a good time playing with the best in the league. Selig hoped this more “meaningful” All-Star game would catch more viewers’ attention, but ratings have shown that the changes have done nothing of the sort — and in fact ratings have dropped during the years immediately following the trasformation.

What got me thinking about the MLB commissioner’s need to retire during these past few weeks was his insane idea to expand the playoffs by putting more wild card teams, again. There are several reasons why the present eight-team system should remain in place. The players and managers already participate in 162 games during the regular season, and the World Series has consistently been extended into November. Any more playoff games and the season might become so demanding for the players. Numerous players and managers have expressed their with Selig on this issue.

Think of the exciting race this year that stemmed from the Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants? The one that did not conclude until game 162? Well, in an expanded playoff system the September push would have been worthless, as would many of the other excellent regular season pennant races we’ve seen. Selig’s thinking for desiring to expand the playoffs is because other sports have more. Everyone knows the NBA and NHL playoffs are detting diluted by letting .500 teams, and sometimes teams with losing records — into the playoffs. If the top 8 teams from each league made the playoffs, the 1980-1982 Florida Marlins would have snagged the last seed in the NL. The New YorkMets would have been 1 game short of tying for the 8th seed, which is absurd if you know something about their terrible season. Widening the playoffs would only make what many sports fans call the best post season among the big 4 sports change even worse.

Many of us also know of the evil that has haunted the MLB for the last twenty years. Several of our beloved players are now known-steroid users and have eroded the integrity of America’s pastime. I know Selig cannot take the blame for the poor ambiance of the 1980s and 1990s and he did a fine job exposing the evil, but he will permanently be linked to the controversy. With his retirement, baseball can finally put the issue totally to rest. Although the occasional user gets discovered now and then, I think it’s safe to say there is no longer such a serious problem with performance-enhancing suppliments in the MLB. Once Selig is gone, that chapter in baseball history can finally come to conclusion.

Keeping with the Brett Favre comparison, before his contract expiring in 2009, Commissioner Selig stated his decision to retire. When the time came, however, his contract was extended through the 2012 season. Selig since has said he plans on retiring when his current contract is up. Maybe after that, he will play for the Minnesota Vikings, as they will probably be looking for a new quarterback.

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After a World Series and San Francisco Giants victory that fittingly capped the MLB campaign known as the Season of the Pitcher, the sport has slightly skipped a beat before immediately starting its next chapter, open season on free agents. License to begin the search in a season of big spending has been given 10 days earlier than in the past due to rules changes meant to much easier wheeling-dealing.

The top ticket item within more than 150 free agent baseballers is the Rangers pitcher Cliff Lee who has been consistently in the spotlight last month, and as I have said earlier the Yankees already reached out to his agent to show their interest. Cliff Lee, who had gathered a 7-0 postseason record in the past 2 years before 2 uncharacteristic Fall Classic stumbles against the San Francisco Giants, figures to command in the neighborhood of his old Cleveland Indian team-mate CC Sabathia’s deal with the Yanks at $23M yearly. New York might have to sweeten the pot for the best pitcher free after the sour treatment Lee’s wife met at her last visit to Yankees’ new $1.6B stadium. Kristen Lee said she was spat on and cursed at by fans at the New York Yankees Stadium during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. “It’s hard not to take it personal,” she said to USA TODAY. Lee, an amazing 48-25 with a 2.98 earned run average over the last 3 regular seasons, said he would not hold it against prospective buyer New York Yankees, brushing off the incident to a few “goofballs” among the 50,000 packed into the seats.

The San Francisco triumphed in the World Series with a cast of young, sensational pitchers backed by an offense composed of castoffs and misfits — many of whom are once again available for the taking. The Giants sluggers Aubrey Huff, Juan Uribe, Pat Burrell and World Series MVP Edgar Renteria are on the free agent list. Edgar Renteria’s probable exit after being a key player to a championship would follow the footsteps of 2009 Fall Classic MVP Hideki Matsui of New york. Matsui, who transferred from New York to Los Angeles to play for the Angels, may require to leave another forwarding address as he again has arrived on the free agent list. New York themselves have some dynamic names on the list in captain Derek Jeter and closer Mariano Rivera, though those stalwarts of five New York title teams are both expected to sign juicy offers to continue wearing the pinstripes as much to honor their legacy as their production.

Other big fish in the pool to catch are Tampa Bay Rays’ swift outfielder Carl Crawford, Philadelphia Phillies’ slugger Jayson Werth and Washington Nationals power-hitter Adam Dunn.

A number of potential closers are also open for pick up like J.J. Putz, Brian Fuentes, Kevin Gregg, Jon Rauch, Koji Uehara and all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman, 43, who hit the 600-save mark last season for Milwaukee Brewers and would like to hook up with a new team if he can continue to close games.

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The New York Yankees did not waste any time touching base with the leading free agent in their views. On the 1st day of open transactions for MLB players who turned to be free agents at the end of the World Series, the Yankees officials made a call towards the agent for left-hander, Clifton Phifer “Cliff” Lee .

Based on the report by The Associated Press, New York reached out for agent Darek Braunecker merely to let him know they’ll get back to him shortly with an offer for the leading starting pitcher on the open market.

Cliff Lee is typically recognized as the New Yorks’ top priority among the 166 free agents, after the 32 y.o. veteran had made 12-9 with a 3.18 ERA in a season he split between the Seattle Mariners and the last season’s American League (AL) champion, the Texas Rangers.

Until 2 losses towards the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, Cliff Lee had a 7-0 postseason record that consisted 3 victories over New York, 2 in the World Series in 2009 for the Philadelphia Phillies’ only wins and 1 in last October’s American League Championship Series.

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By this time Major League Baseball teams have their own prospects of players for the 2011 season. Before choosing the right players for each team, the prospects are graded based on a combination of the player’s overall upside, the likelyhood of reaching that upside, the player’s floor, and the closeness of that player to the major league level. From there, the prospects will be ranked according to their grades and a list of top players eligible for the draft next season will come out

Here we have a primer on grade interpretation that will serve as your guide.

Grade A prospects are the elite. They have a better chance of turning to stars or superstars. Almost all Grade A prospects attain into major league regulars, if injuries or other issues do not intercede. Note that is a big “if” in some cases.

Grade B prospects have a great chance to enjoy successful baseball careers. Some will progress into stars, some will not. Majority end up investing several years in the majors, at the very least in a marginal role.

Grade C prospects are the most usual type. These are players who have something positive going for them, but who may have a question mark or three, or who are just too far away from the majors to get a right feel for. A number of Grade C men, mainly at the lower levels, do grow into stars. A lot end up as role players or bench guys. Some do not make it at all.

An important factor to keep in mind is that grades for pitchers do NOT correspond directly to grades for hitters. Many Grade A pitching prospects unable to develop, usually because of injuries. Some Grade C pitching prospects come out much better than expected.

Also note that there is diversity within each category. I am a hard grader; Grade C+ is actually good compliment coming from me, and some C+ prospects turn out very good indeed.

Lastly, keep in mind that all grades are shorthand. A Grade C prospect in rookie ball could end up being very impressive, while a Grade C prospect in Triple-A is likely just a future role player.

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Most of you are celebrating and giving glory to the World Series Champs, the San Francisco Giants. But let us also give credit to other MLB teams like the Texas Rangers who also gave their best and for some other admirable factors that are truly amazing.

The Rangers though did not make it in the World Series, has still to be congratulated for just winning their first postseason division series in team history against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Their big time slugger Josh Hamilton was 1 of the key contributors all the way through this year’s season and is really a candidate for the American League Most Valuable Player this season.

However, the Rangers’ outfielder is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. When Texas won the division to get to the playoffs the team celebrated with champagne so Joshua Hamilton sat in the trainer’s office to stay away from the alcohol.

When they won the series, Hamilton planned to repeat his procedure of eliminating alcohol but was greatly surprised. He entered the locker room and was doused and sprayed with ginger ale. His teammates were great enough to keep in mind what he has contributed to them and truly gave a heart-felt gesture for him.

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I have been living in San Francisco since birth and I’ve never, ever witnessed anything like the turnout for the Giants at their ticker tape parade. There have been throngs, mobs, and oodles of men and women there – and great percentage of them are in black and orange outfit to celebrate their World Series Champions.

If you were in the San Francisco’s parade or seen it live, you would be surely amazed by the number of people. Parade goers literally hung from the top of bus stops, leaned out of windows, climbed high up on trees and some wise spectators carried their own ladders to climb upon for a much better view. There have been also a great number of children whose parents fetched them out of school to see the event and some schools actually made the affair into a class field trip. When favorite players like Brian Wilson, Aubrey Huff, Tim Lincecum and MVP Edgar Renteria have been noticed on the cable cars that made up the parade floats the crowd went completely crazy in a deafening din.

So the intriguing question now is how many people have really been in the San Francisco Giants Parade?

The answer is that this is the most crowd that have ever congregated in San Francisco town center. The Giants organization expected around 150,000 fanatics but that is just a small portion of the total who really showed up. Some head counters are saying that up to a million individuals went to the parade where the route was about 50 people in most areas. We know many of you are also thinking and making some rough estimate. For us, we assume that number of people who joined the parade was about 500,000. But we will let update you again as soon as we get the exact figure so keep coming back.

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Edgar Renteria the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the World Series made a three-run homer in the seventh inning yesterday to give the San Francisco Giants their very first World Series Championship title since moving west in 1958 and as well the first for the franchise since 1954! This group of cast-offs and misfits beat what was supposed to be a superior foe tonight 3-1 in front of a stunned group of fanatics in Arlington Texas. Cliff Lee the vaunted hired-gun for the Texas Rangers was stung with his second lossint in the World Series and was out-pitched by Tim Lincecum. I had a feeling the seventh was likely to be the huge rally inning for the Giants and I was correct! Apparently Edgar Renteria had told Andres Torres that he was goint to hit 1 out as evidenced by the on-field camera mike worn by Torres and picked-up by FOX. But this match and series belong to the entire Giants team and their expert Manager Bruce Bochy who made most of the appropriate moves this World Series. I am certain that the fans of the Giants are going crazy as we talk and who can blame them after having through a long season of Torture! Nelson Cruz was able to get a homerun during the bottom of the seventh the Rangers who were well liked by almost everyone that makes this win a lot sweeter! Tim Lincecum was pulled during the final inning which was finished-out by Brian Wilson the eccentric closer with the Black beard and fantastic stuff who struck-out Cruz during the last out! I’m really glad that this great baseball team has won this year’s World Series with excellent pitching, defense and timely hitting! Lincecum pitched the game of his life yesterday and Edgar Renteria has proven he is not washed-up yet tonight. I’ve followed numerous mlb teams in my life like San Francisco in the 60′s when I was a kid, but at last I’ve got to root for a West Coast group that went all the way. Wherever you might be Willie Mays, Willie McCovey , Marichal, Jack Clark and all the other Giants who have tried since 1954 to get a title for World Series, this win is for you!

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Eyes had been opened around MLB when the Texas Rangers, who at the time have been in bankruptcy court, have been authorized to take on salary to get Cliff Lee in a trade in July, and Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux confessed on the night of the World Series that it had been a lucky break.

“I’ve got to say our MVP is Commissioner Selig (Allan Huber “Bud” Selig) , for letting us operate without a checkbook,” Michael Maddux said. “He’s got to be one of the unsung heroes of baseball, at least as far as the Rangers are concerned.”

Clifton Lee, who began Game 1 of the 2010 World Series over the San Francisco Giants last Wednesday, was obviously 1 of the key players to put Texas over the top.

It was a bit of a shocker when the Rangers acquired him from the Mariners. The Rangers took on much more than $4.5 million in salary when they Cliff Lee transferred and Mark Lowe from Seattle Mariners, who compensated for about half of that by sending the Texas $2.25 million as included in the deal.

During the time of the deal, Texas have been under the control of MLB thoughout the transition to new ownership.

On his 11 years with the Chicago White Sox as first baseman is Paul Henry Konerko who went to high school in Scottsdale and still makes his offseason home in the area, and if the Arizona Diamondbacks have their way he will be playing there year-round too. Bruce Levien of ESPNChicago.com reported Henry Konerko will be an offseason priority for the D-Backs once the free agency period starts in another week or so.

Diamondbacks received good but not excellent production out of Adam LaRoche this year (.261/.320/.468 with 25 homers), and this report appears to indicate that they’ll acquire out his $7.5MM mutual choice for $1.5MM instead of pick it up. Konerko had a great mlb season, hitting .312/.393/.584 with 39 home runs in 631 plate appearances. New General Manager Kevin Towers has shown interest in cutting down on his team’s strikeouts, something Konerko would definitely support with; he struck out 62 fewer times than LaRoche in 16 much more plate appearances.

The 34-year-old first baseman informed the reporters back in September that he could retire if he is not happy with the way his offseason shakes out, but I am confident playing close to home will be an interesting choice. Konerko also said that contract length is not significant priority since he is not certain how much longer he wants to play. He just wrapped up 5-year deal that paid him $12MM annually.

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A founding donor of Stand Up To Cancer(SU2C), Major League Baseball (MLB) is continuing its dedication to support and help prevent and/or eradicate cancer by dedicating Game 1 of the World Series to SU2C. As a huge number of baseball fanatics tune in to watch the AL’s Texas Rangers and NL’s San Francisco Giants match in the 1st game game of the World last Wednesday, on FOX, MLB once again gave the battle against cancer towards the forefront and support raise funds for groundbreaking “translational” study designed to provide new therapies to cancer victims rapidly and save lives.

Throughout the seventh-inning stretch of play. One of the World Championship Series, a moving PSA featuring Academy Award nominated actor, Jake Gyllenhaal will play on the jumbo screens for the audience, including for hundreds of thousands at home watching FOX. Followers at the stadium will then be asked to stand in unison as sportscaster Joe Buck rallies the crowd — and also the viewing audience — via an on-air call-to-action to “launch stars” in tribute to those clinically diagnosed with cancer. With a donation of as small as $1, a star could be launched in the SU2C constellation on su2c.org to honor a loved one int the battle now, a survivor who’s cancer-free, or in memory of a person lost to the illness. 100% of all donations collectected go right away to innovative cancer research. This hardwork builds on the presence of electronic SU2C banners which are already seen behind home plate in all through the playoffs.

On October 26th, players from both teams will sign a big memorial wall in tribute to their friends and family members impacted by cancer. Same memorials have already been signed at the September 10th SU2C broadcast and PETCO Park in San Diego. Aside from that, MLB players, executives and representatives of SU2C will go to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital spending time with victims fighting cancer.

Major League Baseball and Commissioner Selig, have shown a steadfast and generous commitment towards the battle against cancer, said SU2C co-founder Laura Ziskin, who’s a cancer survivor. “MLB’s efforts have been a huge part of our success in building a grassroots movement in just over two years. We are deeply grateful to the commissioner, the team owners and their staffs, and the players who help convey this crucial message to fans all over the country: each and every person can make a difference…We can all help the scientists who are working 24/7 to end cancer.”

In September 2010, MLB pledged an extra $20 million to SU2C generously surpassing their first donation of $10 million in 2008. In the two short years between the landmark donations, MLB’s involvement with SU2C to cancer has run deep, and the organizations have introduced a set of modern and interactive initiatives that boost awareness and encourage public action. This September, SU2C recognized Commissioner Selig and his wife, Sue for their service by announcing that SU2C’s first “named” Innovative Research Grant will be made in their honor.

As part of its robust partnership with Major League Baseball, SU2C was a beneficiary of the annual MLB All-Star 5K and Fun Run at the 2009 and 2010 All Star Games.

Every single day, caner kills 1,500 Americans – every single minute. This year, more than 560,000 Americans and almost 8 million people worldwide will succumb to cancer. SU2C increases funds for groundbreaking translational cancer study to accelerate the delivery of new therapies to cancer victims, getting them from the “bench to the bedside” as fast as possible. While 1 in two men and 1 in three women will like be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetimes, there are 12 million cancer survivors in the U.S. today. SU2C brings together researchers to work as team — rather than competing — at a critical time in the field of cancer research and study where scientists are poised to push the disease from 1 that takes far too many lives to a survivable and, ultimately, curable one.