|
Gifts for all occasions in the Galleria! The "What is the Deal?" Deal-of-the-Week: Holiday Gifts Under $50 December 19, 2004 What is the Deal with Baseball? By Jan A. Larson  I have been a
baseball fan for as long as I can remember. Although I didn't
play the game beyond little league, the game has always been a source
of summertime enjoyment. I attended my first major league game in
1976 and my wife and I, along with a number of friends, venture to a
different major league city each summer to take in a game or two.
To date, I have witnessed games in a total of 36 major league ballparks.Many readers may wonder why I am writing about baseball in the middle of December. To the serious fan of the game, December is every bit as important as June. December is when teams start gearing up for the upcoming season by filling out their rosters - signing free agents and making trades. Free agency has dramatically changed baseball and for many fans, not for the better. Many players change teams each season, more often than not seeking the almighty dollar over a World Series ring. Case in point is former Red Sox pitching ace, Pedro Martinez. Coming off the Red Sox' first World Series championship in 86 years, you might think that getting paid many millions of dollars with a chance to win another championship would be enough to keep Martinez with the Sox for a few more seasons. The Red Sox made Martinez a contract offer beyond anything that most working Americans can fathom. However, it wasn't as much as offered by the New York Mets, so Martinez turned his back on a championship club to "go for the gold" (if not the World Series) in New York. Teams never make any sort of player move these days without a detailed consideration of how it affects the bottom line. Sammy Sosa, a long-time fan favorite with the Chicago Cubs, is rumored to be on the trading block. Why would the Cubs trade a popular player with a good number of good seasons left? Sosa had a well-publicized spat with manager Dusty Baker last season and has apparently worn out his welcome with club management. Sosa will likely be traded, but only a few teams have the ability to take on his hefty salary. The Cubs may very well end up paying part of his salary for him to play in another city. With so many players changing teams every year, it really has come down to, as one observer once described, "fans rooting for the uniforms, not the players." Baseball in the news this December for a couple of reasons that do not reflect well on many of those that play and run the game. Baseball is being forced to finally face up to the issue of steroid abuse. High profile players Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees and Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants are in the middle of the steroid controversy. This follows the untimely death earlier in the year of former National League Most Valuable Player, Ken Caminiti, who admitted using steroids during his playing days. Bonds has denied that he knowingly took steroids (the key word being "knowingly") while Giambi admitted taking the drugs. The integrity of the game is in serious doubt when the fan in the stands doesn't know if the players are "juiced" or not. Baseball needs to crack down and crack down hard on players using illegal drugs. In my view, a lifetime ban would not be too harsh. Such a ban just happens to be the current penalty prescribed for simply placing a bet on baseball, as Pete Rose can attest. The other controversy surrounding baseball this off-season is the situation in Washington. The 29 major league owners collectively own the Montreal Expos franchise and have been looking to relocate that franchise for some time. Having reached a tentative agreement with the city of Washington on a deal to build a new stadium, the team was renamed the "Washington Nationals" and was set to begin play in the nation's capital in 2005. However, a problem came up when the Washington city council passed an amendment to the deal that requires half of the cost of stadium construction (estimated at $140 million) to come from private sources. Owners paid $120 million for the Expos and, considering the financial losses over the past couple of seasons, had still hoped to profit from the sale of the team by $150 million. In effect, the 29 wealthy baseball owners are asking the Washington taxpayers to subsidize their $150 million profit. That is wrong, no matter how you slice it. It has been suggested by some that the Washington fiasco will open the door for the owners to eliminate two teams, the Montreal/Washington franchise and one other, after the 2006 season. Such a move would lessen the demand for players while slicing the revenue sharing pie into fewer pieces. Once again, money is the motivating force and fans could end up out in the cold. There are problems in baseball, no question about it and I, for one, get tired of any December baseball news that doesn't involve who's on first or what's on second. The bright side? It's not hockey. -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
Visitors:
|
|||||||||||||
