Growing up, I loved to watch baseball. I couldn’t get enough of it. At night, I would watch baseball on TV; at school, I would play baseball with the kids in the playground and when I got home, I would take out my baseball cards and pick out my favorites. Guys like Don Mattingly and Willie Randolph were my idols, my all-star team. Back then sports was my obsession; baseball my escape. Whether I was playing it or watching it, the thrill was always there and baseball was always fun. In many ways it still is, although as I have grown up I have begun to realize that baseball is not all fun and games, but rather a business like everything else.
I was and still am, I must admit, to the dismay of many readers, a die-hard Yankees fan. They are my team and I will stick with them to the bitter end. I have been at almost all the home playoff games since 1995 and I will continue to support them as long as I have breath in my body. It bothers me, though, that it is hard to be a Yankees fan, it is hard to wear my colors proudly because everywhere I go I am berated with the same arguments about the Yankees: They buy their victories and they mean nothing because it is only money that brings titles.
While I don’t buy those theories for a second and believe that heart is a major part of victory, I will admit that there is a serious problem facing baseball. It is the problem of the few dominating the many. It is the problem of big market teams outspending and out-bidding their opponents. It is the problem of greedy baseball players. It is a problem that needs to stop.
I remember in 1994, the season was going great for the Yankees. Ahead in the AL East by a double-digit margin, the Yankees looked primed to enter the playoffs and finally bring some excitement back in the Bronx. But then, just as the season was moving past the halfway point, a devastating thing happened?the strike.
For a young baseball fan, the strike was horrible. I remember wondering what was going on and hoping it would be over soon so the games could start again. Well, that season they never did return and that is when I first began I think, to realize what the game was really about. Sure, maybe on the surface, baseball is America’s pastime, the game of the people, etc. But today, baseball is really just about who can pay more.
In today’s baseball world, players normally don’t even finish out five-year contracts with the same team, let alone 10- or 20-year ones. No longer can you grow up with a team; rather, you find yourself constantly checking the media guides to see who the new faces are and buying the new jerseys which barely last long enough to wear them in. This is just the nature of the game today.
With A-Rod’s huge contract last year and Derek Jeter?who many consider to be a tried-and-true nice guy from the old baseball mold?signing a huge contract, it seems more and more likely that the only teams who have a chance to compete and get young talent are going to be the ones who offer long contracts with mega bucks.
I don’t want to turn this article into a sappy tale that whines about the tragedies of capitalism or greed; that is just the way the world works I guess. But it’s sad to think that there aren’t allegiances anymore. Right now baseball has once again forgotten the love of the game and is facing the possibility of another strike. They announced shortly following the World Series that the league would be eliminating two franchises for next year because they are trying to cut costs. It’s just business, they say. It’s just what needs to happen, says Bud Selig, baseball’s commissioner, who just got a new contract from the owners and doesn’t have to worry about his job security. It’s just life, say the players.
But wait, everybody. I have one question: What about the fans? What about the little kid from Minnesota who doesn’t realize why his team, his heroes, are going to be taken away next season? What about the love of the game? I guess that doesn’t mean much anymore.
Something has to be done. There has to be a salary cap in baseball. There has to be some redistribution of funds so that there is a more equal playing field. Then all can enjoy the games and players can hear the cheers of the crowd rather then the silence of an empty stadium.
It can happen. Don’t tell yourself it’s not possible because it is. It just takes heart and a little bit of that feeling you had as a kid, when baseball was fun and wasn’t all business.
