Anyone care if baseball players strike? (1 Viewer)

[Marvin]

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.

Hey, I'm all for private enterprise and capitalism and all that but isn't it the owners (or some of them anyway) that are clamoring for a socialistic money redistribution scheme? I guess they pick whichever economic system suits their needs at the moment.

 

[MikeAlletto]

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 then cry when they stub a toe...ouch...gotta be out for a week or 2 while it heals. Or get a hangnail...oh that stings. Or better yet call the all star game a tie because they don't want to let someone whos already pitched pitch again even though he only pitched a half an inning or even just one batter.

I'll start caring about baseball again when the players start acting like they are playing a game and stop acting like they own the world.

 

[Mitty]

You see, this is why I wish athletes salaries, actor salaries, etc. weren't publicized. Money taints everything.

It's so depressing, and frankly boring.

 

[BrianB]

You see, this is why I wish athletes salaries, actor salaries, etc. weren't publicized. Money taints everything.

And right now, I'm sure the players' union wish their salaries weren't common knowledge - they could play the sympathy card much better if people didn't know /just/ how much they do earn.

I'm just too cynical.

 

[Michael*K]

Interesting comment from a player in today's newspaper...lamenting the fact that rookies being paid the league minimum of $200K can't afford to buy a $75,000 vehicle.

I weep for you, buddy.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Let them strike, it's almost hockey season anyway.

 

[Alex Prosak]

I couldn't care less. I have not watched a major league game since the last strike and I have no intention of ever doing so again. If I ever get an urge to see a game there is a great summer league for college players up here and I know they're playing for the love of the game. Two of the teams, the Goldpanners and the Pilots just played against eachother in the final of the NBC Wolrd Series.

Some of the players that have come through the league include Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Jason Giambi, John Olerud, Frank Viola, Dave Stieb, Wally Joyner, and Mark McGwire. However, most of the players never make it any further than playing college ball or the minors for a couple of years. They're still playing at a point in there lives when its just a game.

 

[Jed M]

I am rooting for the strike. The game sucks as it is. I am sick of the owners who lie, I am sick of the players who act like they have a union. If it were a union everybody would be making around 5 million, instead its so a few guys can make 15+ million and the small guys can make 800,000. That's not a union, thats an association.

Let them walk because I'm tired of fans of losing teams blaming the Yankees for their team plight.

Hating the Yankees was good for baseball, but we are not Yankee haters anymore because that would mean we still care about MLB. I think that's what most of you Yankees fans fail to see is that we don't blame the Yankees, we just are sick and tired of a bad, bad system. Enjoy your game while it lasts.

 

[Isaac K]

They can go ahead and strike. I don't care.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Enjoy your game while it lasts.

Who's game was it before 1996?

Blue Jays, Braves, Indians, Phillies, A's?

Cause I sure remember a LOT of high dollar talent on those teams.

When big money Toronto wins, everything is fine. When big money Yankees wins, baseball sucks.

You people are the hypocrites. At least get your lame story straight.

It's been pointed out NUMEROUS TIMES that people with apparent memories of a fly seem to forget that Golden Era baseball "When it was a game" was LESS FAIR due to MONEY than it is now. Baseball's system is not WORSE now than ever. That's the same silly talk that EVERY generation feels compelled to wimper and complain about.

The more things stay the same, the more people speak up and act like we are in some new era that no other human has ever felt...the "I, and my era, are special."

Tell it to the Brooklyn (or Millwaukee, or Washington, or Boston) fans if you want to talk about teams being folded or moved. Tell it to the Washington or St. Louis fans if you want to talk about teams with money buying all the good players. Browns and Senators had to SELL PLAYERS just to have money to stay in business, and often sold them to teams like the Yanks or Giants.

BTW, just how are those Browns doing lately?

Yeah, but NOW baseball is in trouble with teams that are struggling to survive. Welcome to life, nothing has changed since your last visit. Please take a clue while you are here.

Cripes, don't people RESEARCH the past before proclaiming how different the present is?


Anyway, I'm with Mitty. I sure don't want a strike. Just after we have had a real run of great MLB moments the last 5 years. I'm sure the Twins fans can't wait to have their post-season shot dumped on by a strike. "You're finally back on top, too bad there's nothing left to be on top of".

Of course the rest of you will simply say to them "You were probably going to lose anyway". Pretty much the same thing we heard about 10 years or so ago for the Twins.


BTW, that NY article is not spin when it says the Yanks already share more revenue than any team in MLB. Half the fans I hear from think there is NO revenue sharing right now, and that is 100% wrong. Many teams are already being given quite a nice chunk of change. Rob Neyer or Jason Stark (ESPN) just had a good article about this, not some NY spin doctor. They also pointed out that some of these owners are REFUSING TO SPEND this money on improving the team. But that's George's fault???

Case in point, Cincy almost backed out of the Dempster deal over some 400K. Of course they had just been handed much more than that in sharing money AND would earn more than that back in post-season ticket sales. That has nothing to do with George. Some "poor" teams are intentionally staying "poor" because it's a good way for the owner to make money.

 

[Peter Overduin]

Watching millionaires argue with billionaires is kind of funny actually. I would like to see them go out, and stay out.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Defend all you want, the public knows what is competitive balance, noncompetitive balance, and what's an absolute joke (MLB).

Quite honestly, I don't think they do. The public knows that the Yankees have won a lot of rings lately and that their team may not have been competitive in each of those years. But it's the Yankees, and not the Twins, that are, to use Bud Selig's term, an aberration. And even they have benefitted from good luck along with good planning during this streak. Look at their regular-season records; they've only been the best team in baseball once or twice during this run. That they've been able to do unusually well in October distorts their success.

Baseball can't - and shouldn't - be like football, where every team can start pretty much fresh every year. Baseball players usually have to develop in the minor leagues, which means teams have to think longer term, and that success often runs in cycles. Canny management can extend the successful part of the cycle, because success brings more revenues and resources; teams in big markets like New York and Boston can admittedly keep the down parts to a minimum (but having good teams in major markets is good for the game).

Or should we have the NBA's version of "competitive balance", where inferior teams get to be in the playoffs? Over the past twenty years, someting like 75% of the titles have gone to three major-market teams (Boston, LA, Chicago). But no-one complains about that, because David Stern is much smarter than Bud Selig, and doesn't engage in anti-marketing his business.

Check the records. A greater percentage of teams made playoff appearances in the 90s than in most other decades, and it's not entirely due to divisional play. Competitive balance is good, despite what the owners say in order to try and turn the public against the "greedy players".

 

[Dennis Reno]

There is going to be a strike??? And exactly how does this effect me? Oh yeah, it doesn't!

Its been nearly a decade since I followed baseball. Let the owners and players rot in hell for all I care. They have taken a great game and turned it into an abomination. Nearly everyone knows that the NFL kicks MLB butt when it comes to delivering an entertaining product.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Ah, Dennis. Another ex-MLB fan from Michigan. There sure are a lot of us who used to fill Tiger Stadium, and now don't care about the sport.

While the Tigers struggle to fill 25-30% of their stadium (and reduce ticket prices and offer promotions to get that many people), the Lions sold out 6 or 7 of their home games last season, while having maybe the worst team in the NFL. And while the prospects on the field this year do not look much better, the Lions have already sold out all their home games, including (for the first time ever) their two exhibition games in the new Ford Field.

The argument that Detroit has lost interest in baseball only because the team is bad doesn't work, either. The Lions have been bad for a lot longer than the Tigers, yet interest in the local NFL team is still as strong as ever. This year's team will be lucky to win 4 games, yet the hottest sports topic in town is who should be the starting quarterback -- not a potential baseball strike. Heck, a story on the current status of a wide receiver's hamstring injury shoved the results of the Tiger game off the front page of the Detroit News sports section to page 5.

People in Detroit used to care deeply about baseball. Now, there is no feeling of anger towards MLB -- many, many fans have simply stopped caring at all. That's the biggest danger to MLB -- fans no longer caring. Anger indicates that people still care.

I am sure there are other cities that are following this same path. You fans of the money spending teams can try to spin this however you desire, but this is the reality of MLB in this section of the country.

 

[Brian Perry]

MLB is one entity with 30 branch offices. The overall welfare of MLB is significantly affected by the health of its branch offices. This is not like Hollywood, where Harrison Ford can go from studio to studio to get paid. The bankruptcy of one studio making foolish choices does not negatively affect other studios.

The more I think about the core problems, the more I am pessimistic a long-term solution can be found soon. On one hand, the Yankees have every right under the current rules to spend as much as they want. And they have spent astronomical amounts, and they have won, and they have increased the local NY fans' enjoyment tremendously, which in turn generates the huge broadcast revenue.

But what happens if suddenly baseball becomes "equalized," where each team spends the same amount? Suddenly the Yankees become average, with occasional good years and bad years. The fan base becomes apathetic (or at least less interested) and the broadcast revenue dries up. The problem is that the regions that experience great years when the Yankees are down don't have the fan infrastructure to generate the revenue that the Yankees and other major markets do. If the Tampa Bay Devil Rays win three championships in a row, do they suddenly get a radio deal for hundreds of millions? No, because the local market cannot support it. This is not the NFL, where probably 90% of the revenue comes from national TV.

So on one hand, I lament the fact that there is currently a $100 million gap between the highest payrolls and the lowest. But I wonder if part of that is a necessity--that there will always be a need to keep the major markets "healthier" than the rest. Maybe just not so glaringly disparate.

 

[David Susilo]

not caring at all. both the owners and the players, they are a bunch of greedy schoolboys.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I take it there's no possibility of scab MLB if the union strikes?

 

[Gary Hensley]

I agree, bring on the strike. I can believe Baseball has the audacity to plead how much money they are losing but yet turn around and sign 100 million dollar contracts. Enough is enough. At one time sporting events were priced so a family could go. Not at 50+ a ticket you are looking at a several hundred dollar outlay for a family. I don't mind these players making good money but I wonder how many more years the average person will be able to even remotely afford to go to a game.

If do hope some teams go under if the strike hits. That seems to be the only way baseball is going to learn.

Gary

 

[Marvin]

Quote:

Excellent point. The Yankees have certainly benefited from the current divisional and playoff system and you can argue about how good that system is (I don't particularly like the idea of wild cards). But I guess complaining about the Yankees' payroll is a good consolation for fans of losing teams.

 

[Brian Perry]

I take it there's no possibility of scab MLB if the union strikes?

I haven't heard any talk of that, so I would be surprised if the owners tried it. Although it would be interesting to see if the players would implore other unions (umpires, vendors, etc.) to support them by refusing to work games with scabs, considering the players have shown no such support for those groups' labor disputes in the past.