Editorial: Bud: The game’s not over till it’s over

Thursday, July 11, 2002 | 8:53 a.m.

The playing rules of baseball do not have an inherent flaw that under certain freakish circumstances trigger a miserable tie game. Nor do the rules governing baseball's special All-Star game have a flaw -- nothing that says the game is just a showy spectacle and that the regular rules don't apply. Weather, of course, could bring on a tie, as it did in 1961. Or there could be an emergency. Barring one of those factors, the game is played until one team wins. Simple, unless there is a flaw in the thinking of the baseball commissioner.

Tuesday night, after 11 innings and with the score tied 7-7, Commissioner Bud Selig called off the All-Star game. His reasoning was that the pitchers in the game had put in their two innings and none were left to relieve them. Five times since the All-Star game began in 1933, games have gone longer than 11 innings with no interference from the commissioner. What is the worth of any game if the rules can be changed when the position becomes difficult? With a strike looming and with reports of widespread steroid use among players, now was not the time for Selig to butt in and further alienate the fans.