Commissioner Bud Selig was so adamant in his defense of his clubs that I was unable to get the word integrity into the conversation. Had I brought it up, he would have scoffed at the idea. But then, the commissioner has never acknowledged that the owners, of whom he was one, colluded against free agents in the 1980s.

Baseball’s integrity was on my mind because I suspect that teams like the San Francisco Giants have undermined it. These teams just don’t seem like they’re trying to win, or at least doing everything they can to win.

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Cliff Lee has become baseball’s Paladin. For the second time in a year, the left-handed pitcher has been traded from a team out of the pennant race to a team in the race. No other prominent starting pitcher has been traded during the season in consecutive years in at least 30 years, if ever, according to Elias Sports Bureau research.

After the Phillies obtained him from the Cleveland Indians last July, Lee did his best imitation of Paladin, the gun for hire of “Have Gun, Will Travel,” by beating the Yankees twice in the World Series for Philadelphia’s only victories.

Now the Texas Rangers have acquired Lee from the Seattle Mariners, hoping he can solidify their American League West lead over the Angels, then help them get to their first World Series.

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Ralph Houk was the first to see the imminent danger of working for the Yankees under George Steinbrenner. His first clue came on opening day at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees’ first home game with Steinbrenner as principal owner.

During the pre-game introductions, as the Yankees’ players lined up along the first base line, Steinbrenner took an envelope from his jacket pocket and jotted down about half a dozen uniform numbers. After the game he handed Houk the envelope and told the manager to tell those players to get their hair cut.

This was nothing Houk had ever experienced in his many years in baseball, and that was only the beginning. More such nonsense would follow, and Houk, the veteran baseball man, resigned on the last day of the season.

Most other managers who left Steinbrenner’s employ would not leave voluntarily. The owner became infamous for firing them. He also recycled them and fired them again. He fired general managers, too.

Steinbrenner was a tough man to work for, whether the employee was a secretary or the club president.

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