Feb. 28, 2008

Mr. Allen H. (Bud) Selig
Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
777 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 3060
Milwaukee, WI 53202

Dear Commissioner Selig:

As president of the Associated Press Managing Editors' group and on behalf of our entire 1,500 newspaper members, I am writing to express serious concerns about the new terms and conditions for Major League Baseball media credentials.

APME works closely with The Associated Press, and our editors have had ongoing discussions with key AP editors and AP Associate General Counsel Dave Tomlin.

Like The AP, APME cannot accept the terms as conditions for media credentials as currently outlined by MLB. We lend the full weight of our membership to the edited version of the credential proposal attached to this letter, believing that the comments and deletions made by Tomlin add up to reasonable suggestions for resolving the differences between us.

Newspaper coverage of MLB is woven into the fabric of American life, with readers across this country daily beginning their days consuming the coverage we provide. As society moves deeper into the digital age, newspaper coverage – including work done on our Web sites – must continue to chronicle America's pastime with the same depth and heart that we've displayed since the game's inception.

Please don't handcuff the institutions which for more than a century have drawn millions of fans to MLB by chronicling the great moments and the great players that have kept baseball vibrant through times good and bad.

Sincerely

David Ledford
President, Associated Press Managing Editors Association, Inc.
Executive Editor, The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.