Dear Bud Selig:

This year I was finally getting excited about baseball again. I'm a long-time Dodger fan, but like and follow lots of other teams. Since the '94 strike, which I personally found devastating and beyond unbearable, I've been slow to warm up to the game again. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I truly LOVE the game! It's an addiction I acknowledge and cherish! This is the first year (since 1994) that I've actually watched teams (other than the Dodgers) with great interest . . . getting into the other division races . . . it has been fun!

Also, I'm finally getting used to the current divisions and wild card slot idea (a tough one to accept). Interleague play is okay for the most part, but I don't like seeing interleague games being played down the stretch (September). During the last month of play, teams should primarily be playing teams in their own division.

Not one person I know is in favor of realignment. Bud Selig, you are an embarrassment to baseball to even bring such a ridiculous idea to the table. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize the "spin" you have put on the so-called polls referred to in several articles/interviews, and the fact that those "polls" reflect about 1/1,000th of one percent of the baseball fans in this country. I (and many, many other fans) are outraged that the future of baseball is being decided in this manner. You've never played baseball nor do you bother to take fan input into account unless it suits your motives. The fact is we, the fans are baseball . . . without us, who will fill the stands and pay the bills?

Please, please, please don't destroy baseball and the National and American Leagues by continuing to pursue this radical realignment plan Keep the tradition and history of baseball. Listen to the fans and forget realignment!!! Reluctantly, I could accept moving one or two teams in the AL to another division to make room for the Devil Rays. The NL is simple - put the Diamondbacks in the NL West. I did read about another option which would by far have the least impact overall. That option was to put both expansion teams in the AL and move the Royals and Rangers to the NL. Either of the above options would be acceptable by the fans in the long run, but not the radical realignment plan.

I would like to know how you plan to vote on realignment or if you have proposed a more reasonable option that the fans could support. I absolutely cannot accept a complete restructuring of the National or American Leagues to accommodate two new expansion teams.

Linda Roberts (Baseball fan for 40 years)
E-mail: linda@andromedan.com