Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
March 10, 2022
While the truly important business of war raging on in Ukraine, suffering the unprovoked invasion by the dictatorial madman Vladimir Putin, and the heroic attempts to rebuff these ongoing attacks by Volodymyr Zelensky and his fellow Ukrainians, there is the less significant business of the continuing lockout impacting the smaller world of Major League Baseball.
This is a spitting match between billionaires and millionaires, and we, the fans, are getting all wet. As much as I love the game of baseball, it has become a bigger pain in the tuchus every year to attend games (Covid is only partly to blame - this has been ongoing for years) and all that it entails. A day at the ballpark for a family of four, let's say, costs about $300 - and that's for fair to decent seats - not field level above the dugout or behind the plate. We attend a number of minor league games each season - less hassle, more affordable, and more fan friendly.
I've been a baseball fan since 1972 and the changes in those 50 years make the game almost unrecognizable and not in a good way. I realize I sound like a curmudgeon, but baseball is special because it is different from the other team sports in myriad ways.
The numerous rules changes are a major source of longtime fans ending their relationship with the game we have loved all our lives. Some of which hamstring players and managerial decisions, effectively making managers obsolete. The universal designated hitter, banning the shift (a fielding strategy designed to prevent the batter from successfully reaching base), seven inning doubleheaders, beginning extra innings with a runner on second base, requiring relief pitchers to either face three batters or finish the inning, an automatic intentional walk without requiring the pitcher to throw the requisite four pitches, and expanding the playoffs again, to 12 teams. This is turning MLB into the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association - all for more money, and further diminishing the importance of the regular season.
The deeper the season gets cut into, the angrier the fans will hopefully get and shun the ballparks for the remainder of the 2022 season, while also buying no merchandise. Perhaps a full season of no paychecks or revenue for players and owners alike will bury the sport so many of us have loved for so long, but are nearing the point of saying "so long." I know many people - personal friends and via social media decrying this current shutdown of baseball, and regardless as to who is responsible, they are finished with baseball. Or MLB will wise up and listen to the multitudes of fans shouting from the rooftops how their game has become so diluted, it may very well have become Sunday beer league softball.
The level of frustration has reached its peak, which I fully understand and share. There have been nine work stoppages in MLB history, all since 1972 - four lockouts and five strikes. We came back following the 1981 strike which ran from June 12 through July 31, causing a split season and an extra level of playoffs, but the lost games were not made up.
We came back yet again following the 1994-95 strike, the longest in MLB history. So long, the strike brought about the first cancelation of the World Series in 90 years - something neither World War I or II found necessary. Spring training 1995 began with replacement players and the intention of playing the season with them. That strike began August 12, 1994 and ended March 21, 1995 - just in time for Opening Day to be held on April 25, with the traditional rosters and a condensed 144 game season instead of the usual 162.
Following the dalliance with replacement players throughout spring training 1995, Baltimore Orioles shortstop, and current Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken, Jr's historic consecutive games played streak captured the attention and imagination of the nation - even President Bill Clinton enjoyed the record breaking game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 6. But the advent of the steroid era, with the mammoth home run battle between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa solidified the return of baseball to the nation, and fans to the ballparks.
Nothing so attractive exists in baseball at this moment. In fact, due to myriad rules changes thanks to Covid as well as a commissioner, Rob Manfred, so unpopular, he might have a lower approval rating than Joe Biden, fans are more than just a little angry. And the rising costs associated with the runaway salaries, passed on to the fans, should keep more than just a few at home or attending more affordable minor league games. The minor league baseball season will commence on time. Those are the players truly in dire need of a pay raise.
There are 120 minor league affiliates linked to the 30 MLB teams. Those players neither get remunerated during the off season or spring training. At the very least, they should be paid during spring training - they are, after all, working. Minor leaguers’ wages are meager.
Triple-A players (one level below MLB) earn $700 per week, or $14,000 for the five month season. Double-A players earn $600 per week, Single-A players $500 per week, and Rookie ball and Short Season players earn $400 per week, or $4,800 for the entirety of their three month season.
And as the MLB lockout pushes forth, consider the following:
Current minimum annual salary in the Majors: $575,500 = $3,552.47 per game for the 162 game season. MLB is offering an annual minimum of $615,000 (a 7.8 percent raise) to $3,796.30 per game. The MLB Players Association wants: $775,000 (a 36 percent raise) to $4,783.95 per game. Did anyone you know receive a 36 percent raise over last year’s salary?
Put in perspective, two players from the New York Mets each earn an annual salary larger than the entire team salaries of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, and Cleveland Indians. Max Scherzer will earn $43.3 million in 2022, and Jacob de Grom $36 million. The entire Pirates roster will earn $34.5 million, the Orioles $29.4 million, and the Indians $29.1 million
While there are other issues preventing the lockout from ending, let those numbers sink in - that is what the fans - casual and serious alike - notice first and foremost. This is especially true as costs to attend games continue to rise, costing fans, some of whom don’t earn in a year what some players earn in a day or a week. I'm a capitalist - I believe people should make as much money as the market will bear. I also don’t have to pay those high salaries. and can either watch on television or listen on satellite radio - both which cost the same whether I watch/listen or not.
Our national pastime is on the verge of committing suicide with this current deleterious work stoppage. Commissioner Manfred unilaterally canceled the first four series of regular season games, with perhaps more to come, in true dictatorial fashion. Since this decision came from Manfred, and thus MLB, the owners should be fiscally responsible for all non-player employees - vendors, broadcasters, cooks, valets, cleaning crews, electricians, engineers, and they should be paid their full wages. This lockout and Commissioner Manfred may very well be slaughtering the goose laying the golden baseballs, and thus the death of an industry.
To politely contact MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, call 212-485-3444, or email mlbexecutiverelations@website.mlb.com.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
No comments:
Post a Comment