Dodgers’ bankruptcy filing claims Bud Selig treats other teams with ‘velvet glove’

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In taking the Dodgers into Bankruptcy Court last week, owner Frank McCourt said baseball Commissioner Bud Selig had forced the move. The Dodgers and their attorneys now have asked the court to order Major League Baseball to hand over a raft of documents that McCourt hopes can support his position.

‘Contrasting the treatment of the Dodgers to the velvet-glove treatment enjoyed by other teams with financial questions will help this court and the debtors to evaluate the full extent of MLB’s conflict and animus toward the Dodgers,’ the attorneys for McCourt wrote in a court filing on Tuesday.

In order to paint the clearest possible picture of a team that ran out of money only because Selig wanted it that way, McCourt and his lawyers seek documents and records, among others, relating to:

--The financial difficulties of the New York Mets, including the terms of the recently proposed sale of a minority share, ‘contributions or loans from Bernard Madoff’ and an explanation for ‘the commissioner’s decision not to appoint a monitor to oversee the club or conduct an investigation of the club.’

--Selig’s rejection of a proposed television contract with Fox, including evidence to support Selig’s assertion in his rejection letter ‘that the Dodgers would require additional liquidity as early as 2013’ even if the contract were approved.

--The approval of television contracts for other teams, including the Mets.

--Communications between Selig or anyone acting on his behalf and Jamie McCourt or anyone acting on her behalf. Jamie McCourt, the ex-wife of Frank McCourt, claims half-ownership of the Dodgers and has asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to order the team sold.

--Since Selig sent a task force to Dodger Stadium to assess security after the Bryan Stow beating, documents relating to the commissioner’s ‘investigation into security at Dodger’s [sic] stadium and the post-game fight resulting in the death of a fan at Anaheim Angels stadium in April 2009.’

According to the filing, the league has sought to limit the exchange of documents to those directly related to an evaluation of how the Dodgers would be financed during the bankruptcy process.

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-- Bill Shaikin