The Destruction of Major League Baseball
Baseball is one of the greatest games, and the major
leagues are wonderful to follow and enjoy. What has happened to the major
leagues, however, is that powerful forces, intent upon exceeding
the benefits for a select number of those brokers, have exploited the game so
much that the price has been its very competitive integrity, and as such it is now no longer
viable as a truly entertaining sports commodity.
The April 1 2005 Los Angeles Times feature sports article
was "Bare Markets," about the vast inequities among teams
in major league baseball. I would refer you to it, but it said nothing new about
the state of the game. It contained the typical description of how the big market teams have the
advantage because they have the larger payrolls, but then concluded with the
common but fallacious idea that small market teams can be successful because
a team like the Twins has been.
A somewhat notable thing in the piece is worth a mention:
At an event in Pittsburgh in late January,
[small-market Pirates owner Kevin] McClatchy railed against payroll
inequities and their impact on competitive stability, a system he believes
allows the large markets to swamp the small markets. "I don't know
what happened," he said of his fellow owners. "Maybe they drank some funny
water, but they all decided they were back on the binge."
I have written extensively about this, and I find it very
interesting that he refers to "competitive stability" being compromised. I
have called it "competitive integrity," and indicted what I call the
"aristocracy" of major league baseball and their
"competitive duplicity" in how it is managed. You may see my comprehensive address of these problems at my
baseball site.
Otherwise, here is my case in a nutshell:
- For most of its existence, major league baseball has operated under
the unspoken creed that the most popular, successful, large-market teams
must continue to be winning teams if the majors are going to survive.
- This results in exploitation of the game behind the scenes where power
brokers can manipulate the construction and arrangement of teams so that the
large-market teams have an edge by acquiring the best players.
- Long ago this was accomplished with a wink by those power brokers in
smoke-filled rooms so that teams like the Yankees and Dodgers would
frequently appear in the World Series. The fact that there were some years
these teams didn't appear made it seem like it was all on the up-and-up,
adding to the appearance of credibility the power brokers have needed to
sustain.
- Today this is facilitated with the openly embraced use of free agency.
This allows those large-market high-revenue-generating ball clubs to buy the
better players, thus compromising competitive integrity. It is no different
than allowing one team on the field an extra out per inning.
- All of the owners, players, and other power brokers are involved
in the scheme, even the Kevin McClatchy's of the world. He drinks of the
same "funny water" as all the other brokers, quietly recognizing that
in the long run, without the frequent success of the "super" major league teams like the
Yankees and Red Sox, his own team would not be viable as a participant.
- The solution is to radically change the payroll system so that the
majors operates as a "natural monopsony"
—abandoning
free agency, implementing a common player salary pool encompassing all sources of
revenue, and establishing a sound accountability program administered by an
independent board.
- This system would allow teams to draft and develop players as deftly and
wisely as they can without the horrific constraints of an artificial salary cap. This
would require acceptance all around for a system of truly competitive
integrity the afore mentioned recommendation would bring, in which it is indeed
possible for small-market teams to dominate for any given extended period of
time.
- The only way this can happen is if a large number of people, mostly
fans, see the duplicity and demand action that would bring about genuine
competitive integrity. As it is, fans are happy to pretend, sycophantically led along by the
entrenched power brokers whose mouthpieces are the extraordinarily influential
media. Nothing will change unless they begin to firmly refuse to buy into
the ruse.
As much of a passion as I have
for professional team sports, regrettably I do not believe this can feasibly
happen. I would love to see it, but I am by nature a very cynical individual. It
is clearly evident that too many will only support the major leagues if the
large-market / media-darling favoring conditions stay in effect. Once a small
market team or teams begin to dominate pro baseball, an unacceptably high number
of fans will abandon it, dramatically dropping revenues and making the entire
enterprise unprofitable.
What does this have to do with the Catholicist Nation?
Nothing and everything. Nothing, in that I just have a passion for baseball.
Everything, in that the standard machinations of the World System to exploit
people and disregard authenticity, integrity, and charity are revealed quite profoundly in
the substrata of power interests throughout the major leagues.
***
Important note - June 23, 2017: The
content of each of the following pages has been removed from
my site. I am leaving the links below because on each page
is a note about why they have been disabled. I'm leaving my
baseball page above because I think it contains information
about a modest example of how the World exploits. I do still
write on my
Chiefs
blog and invite you to join me in talking about the
Chiefs Kingdom as it leads to dwelling richly in God's.
Thank you. |
I've also
compiled a comprehensive list of championships at the
page Current Professional Sports Team
Success and Non-Success
For a
statistical demonstration of the results of
institutionalized competitive duplicity in professional
sports, visit the page
Frequency of Championships in
Metropolitan Areas
Playoff team-year numbers
for cities with a football and baseball team
***
For a bit of
insight into my current approach to pro team sports, visit
this blog series from my blog on my favorite NFL team,
the Kansas City Chiefs.
***
Scripture
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This page was originally posted by David Beck at
yourownjesus.net on April 1, 2005
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