Too much of a good thing

Let's recap.

MLB's decision to retire Jackie Robinson's #42 throughout baseball in 1997: good.

Ken Griffey Jr.'s petition to wear the number for a day in 2007: appropriate.

Last year's extension of the exemption, allowing any player who wanted to pay homage to Robinson to wear the number for a day: respectful.

This year's seemingly mandatory "request" from the Commissioner's office that every uniformed player or coach wear #42 on April 15: none of the above.

I get the idea, or at least what Major League Baseball wants me to think the idea is. But is it even about honoring Robinson at this point? When Griffey requested the exemption to pay homage to Robinson on the 60th anniversary of the latter's debut, it was a nice, thoughtful move on his part. To require everyone to wear the number renders it meaningless. I'm sure there was some worry about whether players who didn't wear it would somehow be made to feel disrespectful, and thus the easiest thing to do was to have everyone wear it. But how does this not cheapen the entire endeavor?

Got anything to say there, Bud?

"It's just my way of giving that man his due respect," Griffey said at the time. "I just called Bud and asked him if I could do it. He made a couple of phone calls and said, 'Yeah.' We had a good conversation. It was about me wearing it on that day, and only that day."

Selig enjoyed the feel of it so much he now wants to blanket big league fields with all those No. 42s dancing across America.

"I think it's great," the Commissioner said. "Just their understanding of history and what that man did for so many people is so important. Believe me, it makes me very happy."

Does Griffey's "only that day" sound a little... peevish, to you? At all? Either way, the real point about this quote block is Selig's line. "It makes me very happy." It makes you very happy? I've gotta say, Bud, that doesn't strike me like a good enough reason to do it. Oh, wait. This is about your legacy, right? Because people blame you for steroids and you don't like that, so you're doing something you think looks good. But because you're Bud Selig, you only know what that looks like, you don't know what it actually is.