The World Baseball Classic is my #1 non-steriod controversy.

Several media outlets are releasing their “Best Of’s” lists for the past year and decade. Yahoo! Sports has released a couple already, but one I wanted to comment on was their “Top 10 Baseball Non-Steroid Controversies”.

Here is my list

1. World Baseball Classic

2. Bartman

3. ASG Tie

4. Grady Leaving Pedro In

5. Umpiring Meltdowns/Instant Replay

6. Torre Leaves Yankees

7. Schilling’s Bloody Sock

8. Contraction Threats

9. Sosa Corked Bat

10. Pierzynski Reaches

Here is my reasoning…

1. WBC. This has driven owners, agents and everyone in baseball except Bud Selig nuts. The premise to make the game more “global” is a myth, and the WBC is something that Selig cites as an “accomplishment” during his time as Commissioner. The issue nearly everyone has with it is the injury risk for players that are away from their teams during spring training. MLB teams are spending more money than ever on players and the last thing they want to see is an injury or ineffectiveness from their multimillion dollar asset. Finally, the best players from each respective county haven’t played in these games, so the WBC hasn’t really proven anything, except a giant waste.

2. Steve Bartman reaching for a foul ball has been burned in people’s minds for the 2003 NLCS between the Cubs and Marlins. Ironically, similar to the Bill Buckner incident, the Bartman controversy wasn’t the main reason the Cubs lost that game, and eventually the series. Both series were in Game 6’s and had a series of events around the controversy that had a bigger impact on the game. In 1986, three straight singles and a wild pitch happened before the Buckner error. In 2003, Alex Gonzalez’s error and Prior’s ineffectiveness had a bigger quantifiable impact. However, in 1986, people think Buckner, in 2003, people think Bartman. It may not have led to the losses, but it is certainly how people remember the events.

3. The 2002 tie is one of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s biggest embarrassments in his time as baseball’s boss. Boos were raining down at Miller Park, the Commish’s de facto home stadium upon his decision. The tie probably wouldn’t be a big deal right now, but the fact that Selig used it to have the All-Star Game determine home-field advantage for the World Series has made it a significant controversy.

4. Grady leaving Pedro in too long has been one of the most questioned managerial decisions in recent years. Hindsight is 20-20 and the evidence at the time suggested removing Martinez from the game, but Red Sox Manager Grady Little went with his gut. Martinez gave up back-to-back doubles to Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada and it blew Boston’s 3-run lead in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. The Yankees went on to win the game, prolonging Boston’s WS drought.

5. The 2009 postseason will be remembered for a couple of things, and one of them was the poor umpiring. In 2008, MLB became the last of the three major American sports to adopt a replay system. Baseball really fought replay for a while and have a limited range on plays that can be reviewed. Many purists didn’t want to lose the human element, but with the 2009 postseason umpires, it may have validated the need for replay. Baseball is generally slow to adopt change, and replay was a big step.

6. Joe Torre spent 12 years with the Yankees and won them four World Series and after the 2007 season, Torre and the Yankees went separate ways. Torre thought he was low-balled by an offer and walked out on the Steinbrenners. Torre is snatched up by the Dodgers that off-season and leads LA to two division titles in his first two seasons.

7. Curt Schilling led Boston to a huge game 6 win over New York with an alleged bloody sock. During the broadcast, and for almost three years afterwards, it was considered a bloody sock. In 2007, Orioles Broadcaster Gary Thorne stated that Red Sox Catcher Doug Mirabelli told him the sock was painted and not bloody. This led to a strange after-the-fact controversy regarding the sock. Mirabelli claimed he never said anything, and then everyone seemed to have an opinion on the issue. The sock is in the Hall of Fame, bloody or not.

8. In 2002 the Twins and Expos were considered on the verge of being eliminated, but due to some legal difficulties it didn’t happen. The fact that there was discussion of eliminating teams in baseball is a story, but the reality of this controversy didn’t seem to get very far.

9. Sosa had a corked bat and to cite a Chicago media personality, the story was more about what Sosa was willing to do to gain an advantage in baseball. Steroid allegations were rampant and this incident continued to raise the bigger question about what players are willing to do to gain a competitive advantage.

10. This is me being a White Sox homer, granted it did make Yahoo’s honorable mentions. Pierzynski, being the competetior he is, saw an opportunity and took advantage of it. The Angels caused a stink about the “dropped third strike”, but the umpires determined Pierzynski was allowed to run to first. I don’t know if there is enough evidence either way on this one.

These are just one man’s thoughts.