SamSaid!

BALL FOUR

     Journalists and newscasters are practically salivating over any morsel of news (or rumor) dealing with the next move in the War on Terrorism or bringing down Saddam. But all of this fades into the background before the burning issue that is dominating the country  –  will there be a baseball strike?”

     On other occasions I have referred to my extensive baseball background as a team mascot, batboy, statistician, player, coach and fervid fan.  Well into my 30s I made a bee line every AM to check the box score of yesterday's game, and I generally stayed up until 11P to get the latest scores. Non-baseball fans must consider a baseball box score as so much unintelligible gibberish, but to true fans, it literally re-broadcasts the games.

    Baseball is a great game. It is the perfect blend of individual effort and team play. And it doesn't require a lot of expensive equipment. But it has lost its allure. The watershed event for Major League baseball was a court case involving a St. Louis Cardinal outfielder named Curt Flood. The decision ended the era when baseball clubs (owners) held exclusive rights to player contracts and services. That decision ushered in “free agency”, player agents, unionism, and outlandish salaries. From my viewpoint, a major casualty of this change was the loss of home team loyalty. Here today, gone tomorrow. If total ownershipof player services was the disease, I'm not at all sure that free agency and unionism have been a good cure.

    In the last 15 years I have seen just 2 major league games and it is doubtful that I will see another  –  even with a freebie ticket. So if the players strike next week, it will be no loss to me. Actually, they lost me some years ago, and the current flap just confirms my earlier opinion. Baseball as I knew it is history, and maybe the current game with free agency, parasitic agents, the players Union and multiple million dollar salaries isn't worth saving. Millions of kids in this country can play baseball without the Major Leagues.

     Let them strike. No big loss.