Once again, there is the threat of stoppage of another Major League Baseball season, courtesy of the Players’ Union, in the form of a strike.  However, there seems to be a different atmosphere surrounding this latest players/owners’ drama.  Via sports talkradio, newspaper articles, websites, bulletin boards, etc., there seems to be more than the usual uprising of the baseball fans’ ire.  From the looks of it, the fans might have finally run out of patience.  There’s no telling what can happen should the players decide to call a strike.  Efforts are being forged through some websites to gather together the fans and allow them to send a message to the players and owners by boycotting games, by not attending ballparks or viewing them on television, and merchandise licensed by Major League Properties.  There are many factions of fans, some commending the efforts made to unite the fans, while others ridicule these efforts, calling them useless and wasteful, that they should just stay true to their favorite teams and stop thinking a small group of people can make a difference. 

    Yes, well.  I myself commend the efforts of those who attempt to bring the fans together to make their feelings known.  This has been attempted before, I believe, in the late 80s (I was a card-carrying member of this group, though the name of it escapes me.  I apologize to my former brothers-in-arms).  My belief is that the consumer has more power than they realize.  Perhaps a small group of people cannot make a difference but they could inspire others to join the ranks and turn a small group into a larger, more powerful group.  I should state here now that I turned away from baseball, as well as the other major sports leagues, about two years ago, which was a slow process that began after the baseball stoppage in 1994.  I don’t watch any games or listen to them.  I don’t keep a day-to-day watch of the standings.  I don’t buy any apparel or other merchandise licensed by the merchandising arm of Major League Baseball.   My interest in the sport mainly concerns history.  I do purchase the Bill James line of works, for example.  I also play the board game Strat-O-Matic with teams I purchased years ago over the internet.  Perhaps this means I have made an indirect contribution to modern-day baseball.  Please let me know if this is so.  Thank you.

    The sport, itself.  Well, okay.  I am not going to sit here and tell you that the players of the era I enjoyed (the 1970’s and the 1980’s) were any better than those playing today.  I am not going to carry on a diatribe against the amount of money the players are taking home as opposed to yesteryear.  I do believe that the game has changed for the worse, has gotten more boring to watch.  One of the elements I have grown tired of is the offensive aspect of baseball.  I won’t go too deep into this but I am bored with the wall-to-wall power conclave the modern batting lineup has become.  The presentation of the games, the style of the broadcasts, the slow encroachment of advertising everywhere we look….

    These elements, and others, have cooled my interest in baseball today.  The avarice that seems to pour out from the owners and players, their desire for more and more wealth, this doesn’t bother me.  I expect this, for society, in general, also embraces this.  One must remember that baseball leagues weren’t formed out of the kindness of the franchise owners’ hearts.  This whole structure was created over a hundred of years ago so those involved could make money from it.  I think many people would like to think that, up until free agency, or at least up until the 1970’s, that the players wanted to play the game for the game, itself.  This is not entirely so.  There has always been a desire for any ballplayer to make what he thought he was worth, just like the rest of us “working joes”.  Anyway, to be fair, while should you or I be able to make as much money as we want while ballplayers should only be paid a certain amount of money?  Aren’t they entitled to be paid according to their worth in an open market, just like you and me?  We don’t complain about movie actors/actresses making millions of dollars per movie, right?  Why is it that a ballplayer can make $20,000,000 a year but a teacher makes, perhaps, $60,000, for example?  This is a reflection of our values as a society, don’t you think?  We have deemed athletes and other entertainers worthy of high incomes and, say, AIDS researchers worthy of lower incomes.  Now, as an individual consumer, are we required by law to devote our money to these ballplayers?  Can’t we choose NOT to spend our money in this way?  Yes we are able to choose not to spend our money in this way.  We don’t have to contribute anything to this ballplayer or this owner or this league or this sport.  We have the power to say “no” and spend our money elsewhere.  I have chosen to not spend my money in this way. 

    Here is a bold statement I will make:  Anyone who chooses to contribute their money to baseball, be it through attending games by purchasing tickets, or by going to your local sporting goods store and purchasing that Derek Jeter jersey, then complains about the high salaries and the greed exhibited by the players and owners is a hypocrite in this area of their life.   If you, as a fan, don’t like what’s going on, then perhaps you should try to change it.  For those of you who either don’t realize or don’t care to realize what power you have, you have the right to go on with your lives.  I wonder, though, for those who choose to do nothing, how many complain about ticket prices or player salaries, etc.?   If you do complain, why do you choose to live with it?  I have seen on some websites where there are people condemning those who choose to boycott baseball—why do you do this?  You have the right to do this but I really wonder why you choose to do it?  Some say “get a life”…. Hmm….


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