Baseball Hall of Fame Dedicates Selig Center for Archives of MLB Commissioners

On August 17th, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, dedicated the Allan H. “Bud” Selig Center for the Archives of Major League Baseball Commissioners. Commissioner Selig is a member of the Law School’s adjunct faculty, holding the title of Distinguished Lecturer in Sports Law and Policy; he and I co-teach Professional Sports Law. Considering the many things he has done to advance the game of baseball during his nineteen-year tenure as commissioner (both interim and permanent) and as the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers for more than three decades, I believe this is a very appropriate and well deserved tribute to Commissioner Selig.

“The Selig Center for the Archives of Major League Baseball Commissioners will ensure a permanent home for the documentation and preservation of the Office of the Commissioner’s contributions to baseball history,” said Jane Forbes Clark, Chairman of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Board of Directors. “This archive will provide a central location for the study and research of the importance of the Office of the Commissioner, and its role in shaping and advancing the National Pastime for nearly a century.”

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Commissioner Selig Joins Sports Law Faculty

I am delighted that Commissioner Bud Selig now is a member of our sports law faculty. (See the University’s press release here.) His insightful lectures in our Pro Sports Law course enrich our students’ learning and offer an educational experience no other law school currently provides. This Thanksgiving I am thankful for having the unique and enjoyable opportunity to teach a sports law course with Commissioner Selig.

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Do Athletes Have Better Brains Than the Rest of Us?

Many people, particularly those who lack or have little athletic ability, perceive elite athletic performance as solely a function of outstanding physical abilities and skills. In a recent article with the above title, Carl Zimmer writes: “The qualities that set a great athlete apart from the rest of us lie not just in the muscles and the lungs but also between the ears. That’s because athletes need to make complicated decisions in a flash.” His article describes several neurological studies of the brains of great athletes in an effort to learn more about how the brain works. Research suggests that the brains of elite athletes are more efficient and able to respond more quickly to rapidly changing variables, which enables their bodies to perform physical tasks much better and faster than those with average brains.  To me, this suggests that great athletes, with the necessary legal education, would make good trial lawyers.

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