ESPN bald talking head Scott Van Pelt’s afternoon radio show isn’t particularly interesting, insightful or amusing, but Monday it was all of that when Van Pelt nearly “choked on his own vomit” after learning baseball commissioner Bud Selig made an $18.5 million salary in 2007. His nearly six-minute rant about Selig’s pay earned him a suspension from the show and the devotion of many die-hard baseball fans who wondered the same thing Van Pelt said.
“Wait, so Bud Selig made $18 million in one year despite his sport being driven into the ground by a decade-long steroid scandal and waning interest in its playoffs?” asked Kenneth Ober, a 50-year-old fan from Virginia. “And how about how hapless he looked during that All-Star Game tie? Maybe he’s getting royalty checks on all the times that clip has been played by the ‘Worst Damn Decisions Made by a Commisioner Ever’-TV show.”
ESPN is currently in the middle of an eight-year $2.4 billion deal with Major League Baseball, which many believe is at the root of the issue. A spokesperson from ESPN had no comment on the story while the three-headed dragon-like figure that represents MLB responded to media inquiries with only “Obey or die.”
