Over the past 12 years, baseball’s Reluctant Commissioner has grown to really like his job. This is bad news for the game. But not necessarily bad news for the Yankees.

Of course, what is good for the game and good for the Yankees have often been two different things,so this should come as no surprise.

Selig, who was drafted as an interim commissioner in 1992 and has stuck around ever since, now would like to stay on beyond the planned end of his reign in 2006. No surprise there, either.

What is a surprise is that now, Selig has an ally who by all rights should be a bitter enemy.

Just a few days ago, this is what George Steinbrenner, owner of the Everything-That-Is-Wrong-With-Baseball Yankees, had to say about Bud Selig: “He’s done a sensational job as commissioner. I, for one, urge Bud to stay.We couldn’t hope to do better.”

Imagine if The Boss applied the same standard of performance to his baseball team.The temptation would be to say the Yankees would be stuck with eight John Flaherty’s on the field and a pitching staff full of Felix Heredias.But that would be an insult to both men, who at least try to perform their duties honestly every day.

In his former incarnation,Bud Selig spent his days convincing people to buy one of his used Fords.Then he would climb into his Lexus and drive home. As baseball commissioner, Selig has done business in much the same fashion.

Over the past 12 years, Selig has compiled quite a resume.

In 1994, he presided over the longest work stoppage in baseball history, including the cancellation of the World Series.

In 1996, he accepted a $3 million loan from fellow owner Carl Pohlad, a clear violation of baseball rules and a “favor” that Selig would attempt to repay five years later.

In 1998, he exulted in the glory of a manufactured home run chase,complete with juiced balls,juiced bats,and at least one juiced body.

In 2001, he tried to make good on Pohlad’s loan by forcing contraction of the Minnesota Twins, which would have returned to the Minneapolis billionaire a tidy windfall on what the commissioner had publicly portrayed as a bad investment.

In 2002, as Selig sat by helplessly in the ballpark he extorted out of the taxpayers of Milwaukee, All-Star managers Joe Torre and Bob Brenly told him they couldn’t finish the game because they had run out of pitchers.

A month later, Selig rebounded from that embarrassment by railroading – with the help of a cynical “You can’t go on strike following 9/11” campaign aimed to demonize the players – a Collective Bargaining Agreement that was supposed to restore “competitive balance” to baseball. In truth, it was all about grabbing some of George Steinbrenner’s money and putting it into the pockets of owners like Carl Pohlad.

And at this very moment,there remains one team,the Montreal Expos, whose fate – and budget – is controlled by the other 30 owners, who still have no idea where the Expos will be playing next season.

And oh, have I mentioned the word Balco yet?

Baseball’s attendance is up, but its credibility and reputation have never been lower.

After 12 years, it is now safe to conclude that not only is Bud Selig the worst commissioner baseball has ever had, but perhaps the most corrupt commissioner in the history of professional sports, the disgraced former NHL President John Ziegler notwithstanding. And there is no greater evidence of this than Steinbrenner’s own words.

For starters, consider the kind of people Steinbrenner has historically kissed up to: Reggie Jackson. Billy Martin. Donald Trump. Howie Spira. Now, you can throw in Bud Selig. When The Boss needs a favor, he knows where to go. And clearly, Steinbrenner knows that in Selig, he is dealing with a man who can be dealt with.

Right now, the deal Steinbrenner wants to make is to bring Randy Johnson to the Yankees to shore up his tottering pitching staff, the one that even $183 million couldn’t fix.And if he has any hope of doing that, he’s going to need Bud Selig’s blessing.

Over the past week, Steinbrenner – who abhors, rightly, the very concept of the luxury tax Selig jammed down his throat in 2002, and even retained attorney David Boies to explore the possibility of suing MLB – has been overtly jockeying to worm his way into Bud’s good graces.

In fact, the kissy-fest has worked both ways. Two weeks ago, Steinbrenner gushed publicly about how much he would “love” to have Randy Johnson, a clear violation of baseball’s tampering rules if ever there was one. But there was Selig jumping to the Boss’s defense: “You know tampering when you see it… Believe me when I tell you, that is not tampering.”

For all the blather about whether or not the free-spending Yankees are “good” for baseball, understand that small-town big shots like Selig, Pohlad, Carl Lindner, and the rest of them only hate the Yankees when they are out of town.

Across the country, ballparks that sit empty night after night suddenly sell out when the Yankees come to town. How bad can that be for baseball? For that matter, how bad can it be if Randy Johnson somehow finds himself being fitted for a pinstripe suit, size 44 very, very, very long?

The very thought that Bud Selig has any clue as to what is truly good or bad for baseball is laughable enough.World Series games in the daytime? Bad! Nine p.m.first pitches? Good! Big muscles? Good! Steroid testing? Bad!

Selig and George Steinbrenner have found precious little to agree on and plenty to fight about over the past 12 years. But on this, they seem to have found some common ground. According to George Steinbrenner, Bud Selig in the commissioner’s office is “good” for the game.Now,he has to hope Bud Selig feels the same way about Randy Johnson in a Yankee uniform.