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By Drew VonScio
Contributing Sports Writer
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It's not very often you find a player give a glowing review of their league's commissioner, but former Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez set the bar as high as it could go.
As part of baseball's All-Star festivities, Rodriguez praised commissioner Rob Manfred on the "The Herd" and went as far as saying he belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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"I'm a big Rob Manfred fan," Rodriguez told host Colin Cowherd. "I think he deserves a lot of credit. Single-handedly, with the changes he's made in the last two or three years to really save our game, he probably belongs in Cooperstown."
While Manfred has done some things to change baseball for the better, such as adding the designated hitter in the National League, many fans believe there are a lot of areas he could improve.
Rodriguez, however, cited better officiating from when he was a player in the league with the help of replay review and technology.
"Technology has made the game better," Rodriguez told Cowherd. "Any time you make players and umpires more accountable, it's a great thing. Going back 10 years, 83% of the time, the umpires were getting it right. Today, that number has ballooned to 97%, so it's a much better quality, much better game, much better accuracy. All those things are good. I think Rob Manfred deserves some credit. He's built some equity here over the last three or four years with his changes."
That statement will draw a lot of criticism from the arm-chair umpires watching in their basements who believe every umpire is colluding against their team.
Five commissioners have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Bud Selig, whom Manfred succeeded in his position. There is certainly some precedent for commissioners to get to Cooperstown, but whether it happens is a different question.
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