By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Allan H. "Bud" Selig
Commissioner of Baseball
Milwaukee, WI 53202

Dear Bud;

I realize with the way things have been going lately you need understanding, not another boatload of bad news.

But what can we say? Baseball fans aren't buying your whole woe-is-baseball routine. They don't feel the pain of benevolent owners or share the concern for where a designated hitter's next Jaguar might come from. And they're looking with the skepticism of the used car salesman you once were.

Let's put it this way: You'd have a better chance of selling Tampa Bay Devil Rays playoff tickets right now than peddling sympathy for the plight of either the potentially strike-bound owners or players.

Even the dire warnings about the possibility of a couple teams going belly-up before season's end have evoked more yawns than sympathy. All except from the Yankees, who have reportedly offered to buy them for their farm system.

After that All-Star Game debacle, even those few fans who might have cared wrote off your pleas as another chorus of crying "wolf." That or an attempt to change the subject from Tuesday night's tie.

Either way, the "Bucks for Billionaires" campaign for down-and-out owners and "Moolah for Millionaires" player relief fund are going nowhere. Sort of like your Brewers.

Might as well forget about putting collection cans in shopping malls or sending Little Leaguers door-to-door to solicit money. And, the car wash fund-raiser and benefit chili sale are about as welcome now as more steroid questions.

Go figure the fans these days. I mean, just because they are already shelling out for ever-rising ticket prices, cable TV bills and merchandise — not to mention the state and municipal taxes that pay for stadiums — they think their responsibility ends there.

If the owners and players can't figure how to divvy up this overflowing pot, the fans are somehow convinced it should be baseball's problem to work out.

Don't they realize that most teams are losing money? Surely they don't expect the owners to pay for it?

Can't they comprehend that the median average annual salary for designated hitters is barely a living wage, just $6.8 million this season? That DHs don't have to pick up a glove is, of course, beside the point.

What's more, they share the curious delusion it should be the commissioner's job to offer clear leadership and creative solutions in times of crisis.

But we know better, right, Bud?