As I mentioned yesterday, spring is in the air. You know what else that means? Baseball - for some of us, but not me. Baseball is dead to me.
Once upon a time, I loved the baseball. I was growing up in the 70s/80s, and all the kids in the neighborhood followed the Brewers. It didn’t hurt that they were actually good at the time. I remember flagging down squad cars to ask the police for their limited-edition baseball cards. I once had a collection of 1000’s of baseball cards (which I think I sold off for $15 at a garage sale; I’m sure the profits were spent on candy within a week). We went to Brewer games as a family using the “Pepsi Fan Club” ticket packages. When The Chuck got a job with the Brewers Ticket Office, I was treated to more games than I can remember. What I’m getting at here is: baseball was a big part of growing up.
So I guess the question is, what happened? After talking about it this weekend, I gave it some more thought. I can break it down these factors:
And you know what - those are in ascending order of the my apathy-factorization (#1 = bothers me the least, #3 bothers me the most).
The strike season? They canceled the freakin’ World Series. That was a big f*&k you to the fans - “We’re in it for the money. Period.”
Steroids? Other sports have had problems, but they’ve at least acknowledged a problem and implemented some processes to attack the issue. Baseball? Greed, all around. Ownership was digging the interest and $$ generated by all the dingers. Players were all too willing to stick a needle in their ass if it meant a big paycheck. Most of all, I blame the players’ union for blocking every (lame) attempt to bring drug testing into the sport. And until Congress got involved, there was zero interest in cleaning up the game.
But the biggest problem I have with baseball is the lack of a salary cap. Every single other major team sporting league has a salary cap. NBA has one, they’re doing fine. NFL has one, they’re doing great. NHL - check. MLS has one, although I’m not sure about that Beckham thing. Hell, even the Arena Football League has a salary cap! What’s the problem?
No salary cap = salaries spiraling out of control. The teams with deep pockets rule the sport - there is next to no competitive balance. Small-market teams are slowly dying, and exist only as a psuedo farm system for the super-market teams. I can hear the counter-argument already, that every now and then a team like the Brewers assembles enough talent to make a run at the playoffs. But when the contracts of that talent are about to expire, they get shipped off to the Yankees/Red Sox/etc. because we can’t afford to pay them “market price”.
I don’t hate baseball, I don’t care anymore.
Comments
5 Comments
Bryan - I shae your concern re: the salary cap and the steroid issue (the 94 WS cancellation didn’t have a lasting effect on me), however baseball has never been better from an attendance and revenue standpoint - hence, no changes on the horizon. As for the cap, I blame the Royals and Marlins of the world far more than I do the Yankees. Those franchises (and others) are given huge payouts from the luxury tax pool and stil refuse to invest in talent. Drives me nuts.
By the way, your Brewers are going to the Series this year and you are going to be watching from the sidleines!!
Posted March 16, 2008 at 1:53 pm by Doug B .
I hear you, Bry.
Baseball kind of screwed itself by taking a stand against the Players’ Union through canceling the World Series, then backing down by not starting that next season with replacement players. That, in my opinion, was their only chance of getting the salary cap instituted. If that whole situation would have ended with the players agreeing to a cap (and the parity that would have resulted from it), fans would have forgiven the canceled series and the partial year with replacement players. Instead the series cancel was for nothing which rightfully pissed alot of people off.
By the way, the Monteal Expos got royally screwed that year, as they would have easily cruised though the playoffs and won that World Series.
Anyway, I still love baseball. It’s your loss, Grandpa Buchs.
Posted March 16, 2008 at 1:53 pm by chuck .
I agree with Doug’s point about the Florida and Kansas Citys. In a perfect world, baseball would just retract those teams.
Posted March 16, 2008 at 1:53 pm by chuck .
Amen. I grew up watching the Pirates every spring in Florida and used to play the game. But the way MLB is rigged for the big markets is outrageous, unsportsmanlike, and un-American. I’m just waiting for football season to start!
Posted May 22, 2008 at 4:19 pm by Chris .
Yep, it’s just a few months until NFL training camps start… and fantasy football season!
Posted May 23, 2008 at 10:29 am by Bryan Buchs .