If you have never heard of the book, “Pouring Six Beers at a Time and Other Stories from a Lifetime in Baseball,” you are not alone. Published by Triumph Books in 2007, the book was written by Bill Giles, former president and now chairman of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Its publication did not set off tremors in the publishing industry and did not ignite a run on book stores or amazon.com. To say it began publishing life under the radar and has remained there would be accurate.

Last week, however, thanks to a sharp-eyed reader, I learned about the book’s existence and a nugget within its pages that prompted me to get it as quickly as possible so I could see for myself that he wrote what the reader, Greg Spira, said he did. I found it stunning.

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Now that Commissioner Bud Selig has snatched daily operational control of the Los Angeles Dodgers from owner Frank McCourt with his powerful right hand, can his left hand be far from the head of Fred Wilpon of the New York Mets?

Whether you agree or disagree with Selig’s unusual but understandable action against the Dodgers, you have to wonder how the commissioner can exclude the Mets from his oversight.

If Selig were talking publicly about the matter, he would explain that the two owners/teams present different circumstances.

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Lou Gorman, a long-time, much traveled major league general manager, died April 1 at the age of 82, but he left a legacy of honesty about one former baseball commissioner, entrusting his story to another.

Gorman related his story to Fay Vincent several years ago when Vincent was visiting Fenway Park. That Vincent was in position to have Gorman tell him a tale of collusion as spawned by Peter Ueberroth was the unintended result of a request made by yet another commissioner, the incumbent Bud Selig.

“Three or four years ago,” Vincent related, recalling a telephone call from the Red Sox chief executive, “Larry Lucchino called and asked would I come to a game in Boston as their guest. I suspected Bud was behind it. I went. Lucchino said Bud really wants us to intervene with you.”

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