Bud Selig's role in Friday's historic collective bargaining agreement ultimately will be judged by the historians. But he was still enduring some slings and arrows only hours after announcing the deal.

        “He's a knucklehead, coming in at the last minute acting like a hero,” Yankees pitcher David Wells told Bloomberg News Service. “Where was he during all the other nights? Milwaukee?”

        Yes, that's where he was, and that's where he had returned late Friday when he returned the Enquirer's phone call. Neither he nor The Enquirer knew about Wells' comment at that time - it hadn't yet come across the wire - but Selig probably wouldn't have had any comment on it, anyway. He never does.

        He'll let the historians judge. Only time will tell whether Friday's agreement begins to restore some competitive balance to the game so smaller-market teams again can begin to compete for world championships.

        “In no agreement do you get everything you want,” Selig told the Enquirer. “But we have made wonderful progress in every area. Knowing the economics as I do, having studied it the way I have, I am confident the agreement will play an important role in (creating) competitive balance in the coming decades.”

        He said it isn't his place to judge himself, but others can do it. There was no shortage of such people Friday, and most of them had more favorable things to say about him than did Wells.

        “Let me give him a bow,” former commissioner Fay Vincent said. “He deserves credit. He got it done.”

        Vincent has been one of Selig's harshest critics - Selig played a key role in owners hiring Vincent, and years later played an equally key role in ousting him - and most recently had predicted that because of Selig's previous history of bad blood with players' union head Don Fehr, baseball would not be able to reach a deal with him and avoid a strike.

        Friday, however, Vincent lauded Selig for his role in bringing the two sides together.

        Chuck Korr, author of The End of Baseball as We Knew It, a history of the players' union, said, “I think (Selig) comes out looking very well because he was able to stop the hard-liners (among the owners) from turning this into an all-or-nothing situation.”

        Charles Alexander, a history professor at Ohio University and author of numerous baseball books, said though Selig played a critical role in negotiations by keeping the owners mostly unified, and then ultimately sold them on the deal, only time will tell if competitive balance is restored. Alexander questions whether it will be, because of the difficulty smaller-market teams will have in keeping their stars from seeking free agency and bigger contracts elsewhere.

        “I think the increased revenue sharing will play a role in evening things up, but wide disparities will remain, because there is (no way) to ensure that the teams receiving revenue-sharing dollars will spend it on payroll.”

        Jeff Smulyan, a former owner of the Seattle Mariners and now president of Emmis Communications in Indianapolis, said he believes Selig ultimately will be judged well by history, but not today's critics.

        “I don't think people appreciate the magnitude of the job,” Smulyan said. “But his tenure will be judged favorably 10 years from now. He has begun to turn the battleship. People blame Bud for everything and ignore his successes with revenue-sharing, interleague play and the wild card. But he loves this game; he has kept the owners together and forged this agreement when so few people thought a strike could be averted.

        “It will take a while, but competitive balance will eventually happen, and that is when Bud will get his due. It is not going to happen overnight, however.”

Reds should benefit from deal Baseball deal has something for everyone DAUGHERTY: Free money should mean free agents Highlights of the labor deal Reds relieved to keep playing Twins saved; Expos to D.C.? Bows, barbs for Selig Deal lifts burden from Boone Brewers 9, Reds 4 Reds Box, Runs Reds Notebook: Glove earns Stinnett more time Brewers end strange day with high five Cardinals 6, Cubs 3 Astros 8, Dodgers 4 Royals 5, Mariners 1 Angels 6, Orioles 2 Athletics 4, Twins 2 Giants 7, Diamondbacks 6 Padres 2, Rockies 0

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