Anyone care if baseball players strike? (1 Viewer)

[Ron-P]

As with most so called professional sports player's they are nothing but a bunch of whining cry babies. I hope they go on strike and stay there....forever.
Peace Out~

 

[Carl Johnson]

ditto.

I don't remember exact figures but the minimum salary for a rookie is somewhere around 200k and the owners are offering to double that figure. Anybody who's willing to strike from a job where they earn six figures has to be out of their mind. Hell, I make 35k driving a truck and my friends think I'm a high roller. Besides, given the choice I'd rather pay to see a minor league game over the majors, tickets are cheaper.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

If MLB wants to fix their financial and competitive balance problems, they should use the NFL as a model. That means (1) a hard salary cap, (2) revenue sharing and (3) no guaranteed contracts. As Brian Perry stated above, every team in the NFL has an equal chance to succeed. Each franchise's success or failure is determined by the competency of the team's management, not just by how much money it has to spend.

Does anyone really think that a team able to spend $30 million on its payroll will be able to consistently compete with a team spending $120 million?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Let them walk because I'm tired of fans of losing teams blaming the Yankees for their team plight. I hope they stay out long enough to force some teams to fold while bringing some salary order back to the game.



Crawdaddy

 

[Marvin]

The owners shouldn't have to and the players should not be making requests like that. They are employees of the owner. The owner is in effect their CEO. Unless the team is publicly traded on the stock market they don't have to reveal anything.

As long as the owners don't open their books, I don't know why anyone should believe their cries of poverty. That said, it's kind of difficult to sympathize with either side.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The reason players threaten to strike (and the tentative date is just after their last paycheck is issued - how brave of them) is to have that little bit of leverage of ruining another baseball season like what happened in 1994.

The baseball union is very strong, and until people are tired of the millionaire ballplayers, the union will be strong enough to just go on strike until some settlement is agreed upon, but I highly doubt it'll be anywhere near what the NFL players union gave up (allowing for the salary cap, and non-guarenteed contracts).

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Viva la Strike! Maybe the fall season on Fox will be bumped to Sept/October!

 

[Jason Seaver]

If MLB wants to fix their financial and competitive balance problems, they should use the NFL as a model.

This assumes the presence of financial and competitive balance problems. And the sky ain't falling. As I said before, if the finances were so bad, Donald Watkins would own the Twins, Angels, Expos, or some other team he's expressed interest in, because the current owners would want out. But, gee, despite how "bad" the situation is, and despite there being willing buyers, these guys continue to hold on to their teams. Is it because they think the situation will get better (despite their commissioner's anti-marketing and their current 0-8 record in labor negoriations) or because they're lying about how dire the situation is?

As to the competitive balance thing, it isn't nearly as bad as it appears. The NFL has the illusion of competitive balance because the season is short enough for random variance to play hell with it, and a greater percentage of teams make it to the playoffs. Make 'em play a statistically significant amount of games and only let the division winners in the playoffs, and see how "balanced" it is.

 

[JoshF]

Instead of all of the players going on strike, how about if just the Yankees go on strike?

That would be baseball suicide. The Yankees provide more funding and revenue for sharing than any other sports franchise in all pro sports.

 

[Jack Briggs]

If Captain James Tiberius Kirk were in charge of all this, of course ...

 

[JoshF]

Nah, Kirk would be in the corner snogging the batgirl.

 

[RobertR]

Kirk would be in the corner snogging the batgirl.

Nah, he wouldn't stop with just her.

 

[Moe Maishlish]

I hate to say it, but I really could care less.
I think we all got a pretty good impression of the players' respect for the sport & the fans after the last strike in '94.
Here in Toronto, we were just coming off the Jays having won the 92 & 93 World Series. Interest in the game and our "championship team" plummeted after the strike. We just stopped caring.
Why?
Because the shutters were opened. The veils were lifted. Our love and respect for the game and the athletes was apparently not reflected by the players themselves.
The proof was in the pudding. They CANCELLED the season due to a strike. Not because of a war, natural disaster or some other world changing event. The season was trashed due to a salary dispute. What that told us, the everyman was the following:
"Hey, you making less than $40,000 a year! Thanks for buying tickets to pay our million-dollar salaries. Sorry to tell you, but WE WANT MORE! And we're going to stand here and hold our breaths like little children until we get it!".
Yes, we all understand the idea behind unions, salary arbitration, etc. But let's face it.
These people make MILLIONS. If I remember correctly, the minimum salary is $200,000 U.S. That's more money than the everyman makes in several years.
So go ahead... strike. Cancel another season. Kill off any remaining magic that the sport has left to offer.
Maybe in a few years Vince McMahon will start his own baseball league consisting of plays who play for love of the game, instead of love of the almighty $$$.
Oh, and last I checked... when I play baseball, I play for free.
Moe.

 

[Steven K]

I'm tired of fans of losing teams blaming the Yankees for their team plight

The truth often hurts...

 

[JoshF]

Steven: Read Link Removed .

 

[Carl Miller]

Don't care one bit. The greed factor has turned me completely off of baseball.

What bothers me the most about the players is that they take their entire situation for granted. They're 800 people who get to live out a childhood dream that millions of people once held as children. If this, and an average annual salary of 2.2 million dollars isn't enough to make them realize how fortunate they are, they're a bunch of idiots.

Far as the owners go, they get no sympathy from me either.

The most laughable strike related quote I've heard recently was Alex Rodriguez who said:

"It's not the players fault. It's not the owners fault. It's the system that needs to be changed".

Now that's deep!

 

[Robert Crawford]

That's too funny coming from a Red Sox fan since they haven't faced the truth since 1918 and accept their true fate.
Crawdaddy

 

[Evan S]

Both the owners and the players SUCK. The system is a sham, both sides are making bags of money, yet there is no competition. Only 3-5 teams have a shot at the title each year, while 25 teams flounder around .500. It takes an incredible organization like Oakland's from top to bottom to even compete in that hierarchy. If the Red Sox combined their ability to spend money with Oakland's scouting and player development, they would go 140-22 each year.

I hate the way baseball is run...I dispise the owners and think the players are just as evil. Any sport that will allow someone to make 25 million a year (when the average NFL salary is something around 800,000 for a much more popular and brutal sport on the body) is sickening. Guys hitting .220 (like Raul Mondesi) make 8 million per year, whereas in the NFL it took Kurt Warner two years, a super bowl title and and NFL MVP award to get a contract that pays him less than that...and he's damn happy to get it.

 

[MichaelG]

I am not siding with the owners in that I think they are losing money, but as was stated before, baseball teams are privately owned and disclosure of earnings is not and should not be required. ANY player that thinks he is underpaid has lost his mind. They don't even work a whole year and make millions for being AVERAGE.

How about if everyone in the country went on strike until we all get more money, at least some of theose people actually need it. A player should solicit himself to teams to get the most moeny he can, and he has that right, but to threaten strike with the current salaries is ridiculous. If I go to work for a guy that spent 300 million buying a company and he makes 100 million a year, I'm not going to strike because I am only making $100k working for him.

These guys are overpaid and don't even work a 40 hour week. I just figured that if A-Rod gets 700 at bats a year he makes $35k PER at bat, the average player (making 2.5 mil/year) would then make $3,500 PER at bat. Go cry to your mommas.

If the owners threatened lockout I would say the same thing to them, go cry to your momma. If they say they are losing moeny tehn sell the team, it's a business and there are plenty of people out there that would buy a professional sports team.

When they strike I will just laugh, and maybe it will be all over

 

[Mitty]

Do I care? Yes.

Baseball is a grand game, bigger than the organization known as Major League Baseball (TM). However, it just so happens that the best of the best play within those leagues.

Sorry, but when the players are on the field I don't really obsess over how much they're earning. I just watch them play.

And if they strike and we miss another World Series, I'll definitely care. There's nothing quite like postseason baseball. Yes, I'd miss seeing Derek Jeter, Curt Schilling, etc. performing their superhuman feats with the game on the line.

Does this mean I have to turn in my Cynics Club card?