It’s safe to say that most baseball fans aren’t a fan of Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. A new interview and article about him probably aren’t going to sway very many of them either.
ESPN’ Dan Van Natta, Jr. spoke with Manfred recently and penned an article about how the commish that many have said seems to hate the game of baseball is “misunderstood” and actually loves it, which is a wild thing to have to prove about the person in charge of a sports league.
My latest for ESPN: EXCLUSIVE: Rob Manfred doesn't hate baseball, he wants to save it.
"Yeah, here's the problem," Manfred told me. "When you acknowledge there's something wrong with the game, that turns you into a hater of baseball." https://t.co/2hUXUQrTZm
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) June 29, 2022
“It is the most ridiculous thing, among some fairly ridiculous things that get said about me,” he says. “The assertion that I hate the game — that one does rub me the wrong way, I have to tell you the truth.”
From the way that he’s handled the player lockout to PED scandals to criticizing star players to the Houston Astros cheating scandal to changes made to improve the game to changes that could improve the game but he refuses to make, Manfred always seems to be on the wrong side of the issue.
Manfred feels that because he is the face of many issues that MLB is dealing with, that automatically makes him someone that fans can focus their ire on.
“Yeah, here’s the problem,” Manfred told me. “When you acknowledge there’s something wrong with the game, that turns you into a hater of baseball.”
Of course, if you make changes that fans want or deal with situations in ways that fans appreciate, this isn’t an issue. So clearly, it doesn’t sound like Manfred gets it, and is just going to paint himself as the very well-paid victim.
Naturally, there were a lot of strong reactions from the MLB world regarding Manfred’s comments and whether or not he does hate baseball.
My "I don’t hate baseball" T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt. https://t.co/vppVCUlPYC
— Amazin' Avenue (@AmazinAvenue) June 29, 2022
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine doesn't hate the Galactic Republic, he wants to save it. https://t.co/uZ5CYnDJV0
— Andrew Bucholtz (@AndrewBucholtz) June 29, 2022
Lol, no, Manfred just hates baseball. The fact that question even has to be asked is pretty telling. https://t.co/Xyce2yBTff
— Rum Bunter (@rumbunter) June 29, 2022
Rob Manfred wants to save baseball in the same way that Henry Kissinger wanted to save Cambodia. https://t.co/5DgwqnGeo6
— Nick Francona (@NickFrancona) June 29, 2022
https://twitter.com/f4neyeno/status/1542150157868883968
That “Rob Manfred doesn’t hate baseball, he wants to save it” line gives me big “soulless, heartless, and faceless hedge fund doesn’t want to break up your newspaper (only hours before ruthlessly doing so)” energy. https://t.co/aXG5gVy4At
— Funky Cold Luda (Taylor’s Version) (@lcm1986) June 29, 2022
Whatever Manfred was hoping this article would do for him, it doesn’t appear to have worked.
