Did You Know Tuesday…

…did you know that back in 1996 when the Major League Baseball owners voted on whether or not to allow for the return of interleague play and the addition of wild card teams in the playoffs, only ONE owner voted against it feeling that this would be bad for baseball? That’s right, just ONE!

As we’ve seen since both were added back to the baseball season, interleague play has increased attendance for the sport, and the wildcard teams have been a huge hit (no pun intended) as more teams compete harder to make it into the post-season. So, looking back, we see that this has been one huge (and highly profitable) boon to baseball, even with a couple of labor strikes in that time. Thank you to the other 27 (at the time) owners who were smart enough to be forward thinkers and were able to make baseball even better than it was.

You can’t just leave us hanging here, TFKoP…who was the one idiotic knucklehead who voted against this?

Well, I’m glad you asked that Mr Small-Print-Italicized-Text...Mr SPIT.

The one owner to vote against it was none other than then-owner of the Texas Rangers George Bush. That’s right! The same George Bush that has driven this great country of the USA into the piss-pit of world opinion and worse yet, has made the lives of US citizens worse in his 8 years of office. Just goes to show that some people NEVER get anything right and prefer to move backwards instead of forward.

Note: the first interleague game after the vote of 1996 occurred the following season on June 12, 1997 as the Texas Ranger hosted the San Francisco Giants, and Mr Bush-league’s Rangers LOST, 4-3! Sweeet!

(I personally love the interleague play, but I understand there's a small percentage of people don't like it. However, it has been great for baseball, so it was the right move.)