The Player Formerly Known As Alex Rodriguez - Let The Hammer Fall

From the desk of:   BLAME CARLOS MAY


New York Yankees: Alex Rodriguez - Baseball Created Him, So Baseball Must Bring Him Down.

Hoping my computer issues are now behind me, I pondered what topic to tackle first.  Then today a buddy of mine asked me for my site name again, because (he's obviously such a devoted reader...) and wanted to see if I had written anything regarding Alex Rodriguez - or should I say, the player formerly known as Alex Rodriguez, better known these days as ARod.

I haven't spent much time at all talking Yankees this season - no particular reason other than I have to be more selective with my subject matter, being as I have more on my plate these days.  Personally, I stopped paying ARod any mind years ago.  I spent many nights calling into ESPN and venting about him.  It became too much though - time wasted.  But, whether you want some or not, Alex Rodriguez is the gift that keeps on giving.  So here it goes dude.  This is for you.

I used to be consumed by what a narcissist I still think he is, or appeared to be.  I guessed all along that came with being overly pretty while being raised in a peacock farm like South Florida and gaining notoriety as a high school player, then signing a quarter of a billion dollar contract.  But while he was still playing in Seattle, he was just another all-star player fans loved to watch.  He was still Alex Rodriguez.

I guess the loosey-goosey times spent with the Rangers never really ended for him.  Quite obviously neither has his association with Cousin Yori, who apparently continues to introduce Alex to the pioneering Doctor Moreau's of the PED underworld.  Didn't the Yankees front office stipulate Alex end associations with his cousin after his steriod usage in Texas was revealed just a few years ago?  If you remember, just prior to that report coming to light, on national TV he looked Katie Couric, and America for that matter, straight in the eyes and denied he ever used steroids.  If what has been suspected relating to the whole Bio-Genesis scandal is true, then Alex Rodriguez deserves reclassification as a despicable human being.  Why - because he'll prove himself to be a stone faced cheat and liar, again.  You know what they say..., first time is on me, but next time is on you - or, Alex in this case.  As we speak, he is currently conducting furious spin control, confounding his bosses in a battle of semantics, and wagging the dog via a witch doctor taking to the airwaves - the actions of an innocent man indeed.

I have no special contempt for ARod in particular, none more than I harbor for any other cheat of the game.  Name one, fifty, or one hundred users, and I despise them all for the destruction they have wrought upon Baseball's record books.  Save me all the talk about the old players taking greenies (amphetamines), because they were used in plain sight.  Greenies were provided in a bucket for any player to grab, and there was no contempt towards team mates or opposing players for those that did take a few.  It was a non-issue to all concerned.  Using modern PED's are a clear and potent form of gaining an artificial advantage - Period.

But ARod is different.  He is Major League Baseball's almost perfect, and most beautiful monster, created in a lab, born of this era.  Only now, the villagers are finally gathering around the castle with pitchforks and torches.  Even Dr. Frankenstein himself, Commissioner Selig wants this monster taken down.  Mary Shelly's creation thought he was having fun when he threw the little girl in the pond.  He didn't understand the consequences of his actions, and the effects they would have on that innocent, unsuspecting and unassuming child.  ARod's classic drama is non-fiction however, which makes him a more sinister and dastardly monster because he knew what he was doing the whole way through.  The ignorance and stupidity he claimed once before, can't save him now.  His charade has run its course.

With who, and where does the blame lie?

For convenience sake, I like to place the start of the Steroid Era circa 1988, when players (eh hem.. Jose Canseco and McGwire, etc. ) started looking like action figures.  If you listened to talk radio back in the early 1990's, there was great outrage being expressed by the fans and hosts alike.  The tabloids were hot on the issue as well.  The steroids conversation was taking place, I assure you.  Here's the problem Baseball faced back then.  Bud Selig didn't do nearly enough to present Union Head Donald Fehr with a reasonable and comprehensive account of suspicions that players were using PED's.  He never so much as attempted to place public pressure on the union, and at a minimum, make them feel uncomfortable in their practices.  Outside of conforming to Olympic testing standards, working against Baseball and Selig was the lack of adequate technology for proper and accurate testing.  In that regard, Donald Fehr was right not to entertain any kind of medieval testing procedure for his membership as part of the collective bargaining agreement.  But it was Donald Fehr himself who posed the largest obstacle to cleaning up the game, for his staunch protection of guilty players against such policies, and his continued and blatant disregard for the safekeeping of Baseball's competitive integrity

It is no coincidence that today new technology has been developed to conduct proper testing, and that Donald Fehr is no longer head of the Player's Union - and alas, there are major strides being made towards cleaning up the game.  The greatest variable in the whole process, turned out to be the passage of time.  And that's why Alex Rodriguez is so important as it pertains to closing the era of PED usage.  He was perfect; the baseball prototype in every respect - a great American success story with a Latin background, smart and well spoken, skilled, handsome and rich.  But when the makers of ARod whipped-up his DNA in a lab, they failed to include a "clue" or even a dash of common sense.  ARod took the endless pursuit of perfection from the lab to the playing field, as if born into a preset condition to do so.  Time marches on though, and nowadays, that's becoming a big no-no because the empowered villagers can fight back now, and cheats run a real risk of getting caught.

How many cheats have slipped through Baseball's hands because of inadequate or no testing procedures or via retirement, and got to ride-off into the sunset free from any repercussions for their usage of PED's?  Punishment is key, and the hammer must weigh heavily upon the players Baseball still has in hand.  Let discipline be swift and impactful, to equal the harm these players have imposed on the game, and let them know baseball's wrath.  Start with who is turning out to be the most aloof of them all, the player formerly known as Alex Rodriguez.  Affect his money and playing career, just as he has adversely affected the record books and the game, with blatant recklessness and abandon.  I know that sounds a bit hostile.  I'm just in the moment, but let's see how these cheats like MLB imposing a sense of humbleness back into the game.

* That little girl is a fictional character.  No baseball players were harmed in the writing of this post.



Mike.BTB

I Reserve the Right to Not Know

The following summary regarding Baseball's old Reserve Clause and System, is taken from Baseball Reference.com:

The reserve clause was a clause in player contracts that bound a player to a single team for a long period, even if the individual contracts he signed nominally covered only one season. For most of baseball history, the term of reserve was held to be essentially perpetual, so that a player had no freedom to change teams unless he was given his unconditional release. The clause was widely believed to have been overturned in the 1970s, but in practice young players today are still bound for up to 12 years (6 in the minors and 6 in the majors) before they have free agent rights.

With the death of the PL**, players were forced to accept a system built around the reserve clause. Until the amateur draft was instituted in 1966, amateur players were free to negotiate with any team interested in signing them. For most players, that was the last time in their careers that they had any control over where they played. Once signed to a professional contract, players could be re-assigned, traded, sold, or released at the team's whim. The only negotiating leverage that most players had was to hold out at contract time, refusing to play unless their conditions were met.

**PL ~ The Player's League operated in 1890 as a direct competitor of the established National League. (BTB)

I do not believe in a Salary Cap. 
I don't believe they work.  They are too restrictive. 

Salary Caps were created to be circumvented.  

They amount to punishing teams who find themselves on firm financial footings. 

The Capitalist's way is basically survival of the fittest, 

and two of the fundamental principles are

"Buyer Beware" and "Allow markets to set the price". 

I have a very firm if not cut throat belief about business and Teams (Leagues):

If you can't afford your Team, sell it; move it or fold it.

Now..., just because I believe that doesn't mean I'll act on it.  There are many things in life we all apply that notion towards.  There in lies the rub.  We fans are totally willing to entreat Baseball to a double standard.  We all do it.  And the phenomena isn't limited to Baseball.  As passionate fans of any sport, we apply the double standard.  If so-and-so can help us win a championship, we're most likely willing to look the other way.  Baseball is a trickier call than say Football where we, the passionate ones, are just complete and utter degenerates.  Am I right guys, and many gals?  I mean...C'mon ~ we overlook a lot of character flaws in people if it means we can raise a "VINCE" over our collective heads,
don't we?

C'mon, be honest. 
What does this all have to do with the Reserve System in Baseball?

I don't know.


TAKE TWO:

What I meant to say was I'm not a cold hearted Capitalist with regards to Baseball as I may be in life.  But I am a pragmatist.  It's a way of life for me.  More on that later.

When DUD Selig suggested The Minnesota Twins be contracted, I considered running for gov't service so as to learn how to "disappear" someone.  They do it all the time so I figured it would be a safe, legal and effective way to eradicate DUD Sellout Selig and release our game from his feeble grip. 
The Twins?  The Old Washington Senators? Are you kidding me?  That plan kinda fell apart for me and as you can see, Dud is still ruining, I mean, running Baseball.

Remember the game of Three Card Monty Bud Sluggy played with Jeff Loria and John Henry?
...How he allowed the Expos to float away on an inner tube to Puerto Rico; orphaned with no owner because Bud Sluggy allowed Jeff Loria to bolt Montreal without paying child support.  Dud Selig allows him to buy the Marlins where he's still snivelling to Dade County.  John Henry was allowed to divest himself of the Marlins and buys the BoSox.  The rest is, as they say....fugheddaboudit! 

Dollar and a dream yo! 
All you gotta do is find the Baseball nugget of gold underneath the right coconut shell
in the con-game of Dud Sluggy Three Card Monty.

OH!

What's going on in Pittsburgh is a freakin crime!!

There are executives in the Steel City who should be incarcerated for crimes against the hard working people of Steel Town and greater Pittsburgh and against their history in Baseball spanning 130 years.

(before I continue, my inner Esquire reminds me to advise everyone this is just my opinion and any and all comments are for entertainment purposes only.  This post is intended for immature audiences only and any charges levied upon any individual related to MLB and their teams by me, is the victim of nothing more than hyperbole and non-fictitious and childish rants and/or poor behavior on my part.)

Someone in one of those pretty looking office windows over looking PNC Park needs to go to jail for stealing money from Pirate fans in a scam lasting 18 years and counting.  In the annual letter sent to season ticket holders/subscribers I'm sure there has to be some kind of wording saying how committed ownership was to providing an exciting product.  Isn't there?  Is there anything written in that letter we can misconstrue? Misinterpret? Bend a little truth with?...All for the sake of accusing them of lying also??  Aren't they misrepresenting themselves?  Shouldn't they reclassify themselves as a Charity; a for-profit one at that!? (see leaked report on teams making profit HERE ~ Not!... find it yourself.)

OK..what does that have to do with the old Reserve System in Baseball?

I don't know.

TAKE THREE:

I believe the present economic system is OK for Baseball.  The luxury tax is serving as a counter to revenue imbalance.  It should be.  Some recipient owners of the MLB hand-out are pocketing the money.  Some teams could be managing their stadium issues better, or have better luck with their plans.

Some owners are just horrible.  It takes a village I guess.  You don't get to pick your neighbors in life.

But I'll say this much for the current Baseball system ~ It's free.  I like it this way.  Bad decisions are no reason to change the landscape of Baseball.  Just get smarter owners.

I am not against free agency.  I am a capitalist remember?  The only problem I might have with free agency and run away salaries is that the costs get passed on to us.  Ticket prices and everything inside the joints are ridiculous$$$.  Other than that, I like the system.  That's not what this is all about.

I want all teams to be in relatively good financial health.  If every team was in a state of health to match each other's free agency bids, well, now you're talking about Baseball in Asgard or something.  That day is folklore, myth, fable, tall-tales, fantasy and just plain ludicrous to think.  It won't exist until you employ a system of communism upon Baseball. 

Not Happening!

Baseball History is the History of Rich and Poor; always has been. 
Connie Mack sold off Championship players because he no longer (wanted?) could afford them, Twice!  The St. Louis Browns? Poor!  The Washington Senators?  Poor!  The Boston Braves?  Poor!
The mighty Philadelphia A's?  Poor!  The Seattle Pilots?  Failed!  Hello Milwaukee; oh yea...that came after Goodbye Milwaukee ~ see Braves..btw POOR!

 

Salary Cap?  Should not happen.

Salary Caps and Long Term Contracts are the Devil's playground.

Even in a best case scenario, say a team like.., Plato's Utopian Wishful Thinking Nine, a salary cap will only work if you're dealing with one to three year contracts at the very most.  Anything beyond that for a club and a fan base is pure unadulterated torture and very very unnecessary.  Texas created a problem for themselves with ARod's contract and agreed to eat a lotta damn cheddar to rid themselves of the burdensome deal.  The Rockies ate $50 Mill to get out of Mike Hampton's contract.  The Astros ate millions to get out of Oswalt's deal.  There's more examples.  We don't need to go through them all.

I want to see all teams be able to build a winner if they make smart decisions. 

Making smart decisions in a system you can't compete in is futile.  But if you can make smart decisions and arrive in the post-season through different means than say, the NY clubs, Boston, CHI clubs, LA...can "pay" for...OK then; Good.  The system works and there's room for different philosophies and plans to get things on a competitive level.

I come from one of the big market cities.  The biggest in fact; N.Y.C.  I really don't have much to worry about as far as my team spending money (all my other rants about the Wilpons aside).  I especially do not want a Salary Cap prohibiting my team from going out, adding payroll, and making a key acquisition when needed because of an arbitrary number based upon the cat from K.C.'s (in)ability to hang with that figure.
That's wrong. 
But the Yankees continually sporting a payroll over $200 million is obscene. 
That doesn't make it wrong though.

And here we go...I'm actually getting closer to my point now.

The Yankees over years past have been mocked a bit for not procuring talent through their farm system.  Their plan, sarcastically described, was to wait for other team's best players to walk then just offer them the most money.  This isn't about the Yankees either.  It's not my want to poke fun at them right now.  We could be talking about the N.Y. HoodRats for all I care.

But now I'm even closer.  Nothing about today's current system really needs to change.  However I am sympathetic to teams who consistently loose their best talent because they have no shot at making competitive free agent bids versus the ability of much more wealthier clubs
(example ~ this winter Tampa/Crawford).

I propose a policy beneficial to all team owners and fan bases, and there's no reason why financial rewards to the player can not be incorporated into my idea to make all parties satisfied.

Many teams get screwed because after the 6th year with a big club, the player becomes a free agent.  The club who drafted and developed said player never gets to enjoy any of the prime years of said player.  If a team could keep a player for just one more year; two more years and be able to benefit from one or two years of a player's fully developed prime, I submit to you history might look just a little differently.

What if the A's could have kept Giambi, Damon, Tejada, and all their pitching together just one more year than they were able to?  What if the current Tampa Rays could keep together their core of young players for just one or two more years?  What if the 1993 Pirates could have kept that team together for just one or two more years?  What if the Twins were able to hold on to a miriad of players just one more, or two more years...The Twins would be a much different story today!  What will happen to the Reds, Orioles, Padres and Rangers when in 4 or 5 more years they can't retain everyone they'd like for just one or two more years that would make all the difference?

It's fair if a team who drafted you should get the benefit of at least one or two of those very prime years beyond what the current system dictates; which is 6 years in the pros gets you to the Free Agent market.
Allow teams to exercise the Reserve Clause on a one year basis only, like it was originally intended, and not the reinterpreted version the owners ran away with.  One year or for two consecutive years, then never again.  I am not looking to curtail free agency in the least bit.  I would just like to see teams who absorb the venture capital costs into player development enjoy a player's production at an optimum level, if only for a short time.  But for many teams, many times, I believe one more year with the ability to keep a core group together can mean all the difference in a teams future success

Of course the Reserve must come with a financial reward.  I'm reluctant to call this the NFL's version of Franchising a player.  Baseball was here first and the reserve clause walked on the Earth before there was an NFL.

The Reserve Clause is not a dirty word.  Don't be bugged out by it.  It's something we all want as fans because we like to see our teams retain it's talent before money ruins our day.

 Say Strasburg never got hurt and in 5 years their other pitching prospect and Zimmerman have their team at the precipice of a championship.  After year 6 you can kiss that dream goodbye!  But if they can reserve the right to retain their core for one year, or two at the most, it could change everything and make all the difference for a team struggling with finances.  For the rich clubs it's not a situation of the rich getting richer; Not at all.  It's a wash for them really but the plan would really help out the league as a whole.

If you're a Capitalist don't be afraid to embrace a one or two year reserve.  You know you want it.  Everyone hates seeing their favorite player walk after that 6th year only to have him enjoy his prime for someone else's club and fan base.  All I want is for a team like the Rays to be able to reserve one or two of those prime years they deserve to benefit from.  Then afterwards, he's free and most likely still in his prime.

There it is:

Keep the current Baseball Economic System as is and incorporate a very limited Reserve System.  The fans will come flocking to the park because they know their core, their guys still have a chance before the ticking time bomb goes off and explodes all your best players all over the baseball landscape.  That one more year, with one more complimentary transaction without being restricted by a salary cap will get more varied cities competing for a World Series.

This post was brought to you with the help of cerveza Corona.
Could you tell?


Mike.BTB
http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

 

Steroids Make the World go 'Round

Here's the problem ~ Congress affords Baseball anti-trust exemption.

Therefore Baseball enjoys the benefit of being an insulated entity. When Gov't (probably prodded by Jim Bunning and a few others) decides to check in on the NATIONAL Pastime from time to time, they are justified. They aren't going after Rocket because he did steroids. He like Martha Stewart lied to Congress. Congress has always gone after those who lied to them; from all walks of life.

Outside of that little detail, I don't like a meddlesome government either, so that argument speaks loud and clear to me. But excuse Congress for doing what Fay Vincent wanted to do over 20 years ago but whom the owners stopped cold in his tracks.

The instituting of Selig as C'mish was all part of a greater plan by the owners to alleviate themselves of Good C'mishes who really did have the best interests of Baseball foremost on their mind. Selig, or whomever was going to be made Commissioner then, would surely be a person who had the OWNERS best interest foremost on their mind. Selig; of the owners; by the owners; for the owners. He could have done what Vincent wanted to do which was get on the soapbox, raise the concerns of PED usage and putting the pressure squarely on the PA to respond in the court of public opinion. Maybe then Donald Fehr could have been broken. But Selig didn't try. And (Fehr is equally to blame but his mandate is to protect the membership).

For TWENTY-plus years Selig stayed mute. If Congress wants to step in from time to time because they allow Baseball (the only ones) to exists with anti-trust exemption, be happy because SELIG blew it and that's why we are where we are. When the owners said HomeRuns are good, Selig listened. Now look at our game and our records...and our attitudes.

I submit to you we are more apathetic to the game now than we were in 1995 after the strike. Baseball did not need McGwire and Sosa to save it. That is BULL$hit right there! because Baseball, since 1846 has survived every vice man has tried to sully the game with. So to all that buy that crap They saved the game...You have no idea what you're talking about. Read your history people. Steroids, though harmful to our record books and our pockets in the price we pay for tickets, appears as a mere pimple on baseball's ass compared to the things players and owners and direct competition from rivals hath wrought. Baseball is the megalith it is because of vices! Think about it.



That was a pure rant!

Mike.BTB

Speaking into a "Hot Mike" again..

Not too long ago, Bernie Carbo, yes the Bernie Carbo that hit a game tying 3 run home run for the Red Sox in game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the Reds, shared his story with us about how he played almost every game stoned/high out of his mind.  The latest revelation stemming from that story is how Carbo now admitted he wanted to pay a couple of "mafia" types $2,000 to break the arms of Keith Hernandez in retaliation for Kieth's testimony against Carbo dating back to the Cocaine Scandal of the early 80's.  Kieth had testified he was introduced to cocaine by Bernie Carbo.  For that testimony Bernie wanted Hernandez's arms broken.  When Carbo brought up the idea to the "gentlemen" who would have carried out the deed, they were agreeable enough to do it, after a couple of years that is.  Yep!  The guys talked Carbo out of the deal by getting him to understand if the hit was put on Hernandez so soon after the testimony, of course they'd seek Carbo as suspect number one.  Today as Bernie Carbo is making all this known to us, he says if  he should come in contact with Keith Hernandez, he would tell him he was sorry for introducing him to the drug and causing him to have problems with it.  Read about the whole thing here.

************************

My how the times have changed.  I offer you this little anecdote I heard this morning.  I do not know the full context this following bite was a part of.  I'm assuming it had something to do with the recent TASERING of a fan in Philly.  I could be wrong,  I tuned into the radio show in time to hear this clip

involving Duke Snider Duke.  (I'm paraphrasing Warner Wolfe)

...'after a Dodgers game against the Reds in Cincy...the fans were allowed on the field after the game.  A fan confronted Duke Snider and said to him, "You're Gutless!"  Duke said a few unsavory things back to this fan.

The fan proceeded to take a punch at Duke, and missed.  As Duke once told the story, he said he had his glove rolled up in his hand and popped the fan in the mouth 'really good'.  That fan was held over night in jail.  Both had to appear in court the next day.  The judge recommended the two just shake hands and end this like gentlemen.  Duke was agreeable to that.  The fan, who suffered a broken dental bridge from the punch asked the judge 'What about my mouth?'  The judge's response to that question?  The judge said, "I don't know.  I am not a dentist.  Case dismissed!"   We all know how something like that would have played itself out today.  Don't we?

**************************

Not only does Charlie Manuel throw the Mets under the bus with the stealing signals saga, Bud Selig decided he was going to give the Philadelphians 3 more home games this year.  The G-20 Summit will be held in Toronto this year on the same dates the Phillies are scheduled to play the Blue Jays.  MLB basically wants nothing to do with any potential chaos due to protesters and those who take things a step farther.  Instead of finding a neutral site for the two teams to play as MLB decided to move the series, Selig decided to play those games in Philly as Toronto acts as home team.  Thank you Bud Selig!  Because that is so fair right?  Toronto is entitled to the gate.  Without checking the schedules, are you telling me Chicago's two parks, Buffalo-which would draw a bigger crowd than Toronto ever will this season, Cleveland, Boston or Pittsburgh couldn't host this series?  No. - Because the zany and wacky long standing rivalry between Philly and Toronto needs to be held in Philly; giving them 3 more games in their own stadium than the rest of the division will have.  I can see MLB's point.  Canadians have a way of burning down their downtown districts and tipping cars and what-not after their hockey teams inspire such action with a win OR loss.  The outcome of the game isn't as important to them as the final tick of the clock marking zero point zero zero; Time for them to Wild-Out!  Ay?  All the protesters, activists and hooligans flooding into town for the summit will no doubt be something worth avoiding.  But Selig Meister Meister Selig should have come up with a better place than Philly's park; somewhere like SomberTown!.  Selig is just appeasing the Jays knowing the joint will probably sell out.  Thank you Dud Selig.  May I have another?

***************************

That's it!  All HAIL has broken loose.  HAIL is just a complete and utter mess.  He has more problems than a math book!  The pitcher formerly known as Oliver Perez has finally been taken out of the rotation.  Things have not gone well for him at all.  There was a sign here and a sign there he might turn a corner.  But those signs really read DEAD END when you got closer to read them.  Two starts ago it was the weather.  Ollie doesn't do well in the cold.  In that game he walked 7 batters in too few innings pitched and looked plain ol' pathetic.  So this is what the team went with;- it was the cold....Too cold for Ollie.  He's HAIL damn it!!

So everyone said his next start in Miami was going to be just what the Doctor ordered.  Some good old fashioned tropical climate was going to warm Ollie's bones and he was going to pitch more 'gooder'.  That was the plan!!  Honest!  This is the way the team was spinning it.  Well Doctor, Ollie needs a miracle not penicillin.  OK - Miami.  You are there!  Did you smell that?  It was Ollie stinking up Big Fish Stadium like hot garbage in a closet!  So much for the climate control theory.  Next move?  Mets said is the bullpen.  ME?  That won't help.  What's he going to get?  Mop-up duty?  He won't be the 8th inning guy?  He's not the 9th inning guy?  He's not a one batter lefty specialist to get one lefty bat out.  Is he John Maine's personal long relief specialist now? (He should be!).  There is no effective innings set for Ollie to continue fooling himself  as a pitcher in our bullpen.  Get him to accept a demotion to the minors.  Let him start a few more games in Buffalo.  The bullpen will just not help him.  He just doesn't fit any job description and the opportunities are sporadic at best.  How do you pitch out of your troubles as a starter like that?  Send him to AAA with his consent.  Make him understand then bring him back after 3 or starts.

(Today's post game note:  You can include RAIN back into the daily forecast along with HAIL again.
John Maine was miserable today once again.)

And while I'm at it.  Just like I said folks, the Mets can not beat the Nationals and the Marlins.

It's un-B-Friggin-lievable!!  This is going on for years now.  Today's loss ensures we lost the last two series after taking a series from the Giants.  We finish with the Fish tomorrow.  Then two with ATL followed by more Nationals.  After that?  NY Yankees and Inter-League play.

Did I tell you I'm getting a little sick and tired of Inter-League?

Next post.

BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

Baseball Geography..101

Yesterday I said I would present my own fix for Baseball's re-alignment dilemma.  This is my third crack at this since I got home today.  I deleted the other two attempts already.  Then it dawned on me.  MLB already has the fix.  They already have a blue print.  Kinda.  I told you yesterday about my eerie feeling I had that all this grumbling over realignment, balanced and unbalanced schedules will ultimately lead to one thing:

EXPANSION

That's right.  It is my humble opinion MLB is starting to plant the seeds for more expansion.

No...not contraction; Expansion.  You heard right.

The more I tried to poke fun at Selig and the GOOFY plan his hand picked staff of 14 Sun-Dried Tomatoes of On-Field Matters came up with involving a GOOFY re-alignment scheme, the more my better sense kept screaming at me, telling me, reminding me there is already a blue-print in place.  Damn it!!  I hate it when I know too much Baseball history.  Truth is I came up up with my own little realignment plan and designs for suspending reality.  I really wanted to give Selig a good Wedgie tonight, but the baseball fan on my left shoulder is winning over my brain.  The punk on my right shoulder will  have to wait.  Instead of having a good laugh at Bud's expense, I offer you something a little more creative.  My "id" is not happy right now!

Like EVERYTHING, History is the road map to the present.

The National League was formed in 1876..blah blah.  We pick up this story in the year 1901.  Nothing prior to that is really relevant for this post.  It was quite simple then with eight teams.  They are the Senior Circuit.  How baseball evolved to this point is a romp through 60 years (nice round number) of baseball's infancy and adolescence.

1. 
   
   Brooklyn Dodgers
2. 
   
   New York Giants
3. 
   
   Philadelphia Phillies
4. 
   
   Pittsburgh Pirates
5. 
   
   Chicago Cubs
6. 
   
   Cincinnati Reds
7. 
   
   Boston Braves
8. 
   
   St. Louis Cardinals

The American League was just the most recent come-lately formed to rival the National League.  The historic formation of the AL is a very different story than that of it's senior.  The N.L. was a continuation; the evolution of our original game only more organized.  The A.L. was a rival, like others before them.

Pay attention.  I'll make this short.

A minor league, the Northwestern League, operated from 1879 to 1887.  In 1888 they reformed and operated as the Western Association till 1891.  From 1892 to 1899 it was known as the Western League.

Ban Johnson was a cat with an axe to grind against the N.L.  He wasn't allowed to buy a team and the N.L. refused to expand to accommodate him.  He had a bad attitude, a good reason and most importantly, re$cource$ to declare war on the N.L.  He purchased the Western League, disbanded it in 1899 and in 1900 re-organized it as the American League, opening the 1901 season.  Ban Johnson's War vs the N.L. had begun.

As of 1895 the Western League operated in:

1. 
   
   Indianapolis
2. 
   
   St. Paul
3. 
   
   Kansas City
4. 
   
   Minneapolis
5. 
   
   Detroit
6. 
   
   Milwaukee
7. 
   
   Toledo
8. 
   
   Grand Rapids

Ban Johnson reorganized the league and this is what happened over 1899 & 1900


Indianapolis - OUT.  They continued to operate in a new minor league named the Western League est.1901.

1. 
   
   St. Paul - operations shut down, packed up and moved to Chicago to compete directly with N.L. team.  Ding ding ding!
2. 
   
   Kansas City - OUT.  Western League with Indianapolis.
3. 
   
   Minneapolis - OUT.  Western League too.
4. 
   
   Detroit - Ding ding ding!  Yep!  These aren't the Detroit Wolverines either!
5. 
   
   Milwaukee - operations shut down, packed up and moved to Washington D.C. for the 1901 season. Ding ding ding!  For the opening of the 1901 season, Milwaukee was given a second team.
6. 
   
   Toledo - operations shut down, packed up and moved to Cleveland.  Ding ding ding!
7. 
   
   Grand Rapids - operations shut down, packed up and moved to Buffalo.  They never did get to unpack their boxes.  They folded before 1901.

Between 1901 and 1902 there were still changes before things settled and 1903 gave shape to a more recognizable MLB as far as "we" are concerned.  Ban Johnson was a straight gangsta and wasn't joking. For the 1901 season he completed his new league by giving teams to cities and owners rebuffed by the N.L.'s monopoly.  Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore made eight and the A.L. was in business.

The second Milwaukee team moved to St. Louis for the 1902 season to become the Browns. Ding ding ding!  And after the 1902 season, Baltimore was boxed up and mailed to NYC to become the Highlanders/Yankees.

Stay with me people.  That was the hard part.  Finally the A.L. of 1903:

1. 
   
   New York Yankees    head-on vs. NL
2. 
   
   (Milw) St. Louis Browns    head-on vs. NL
3. 
   
   Cleveland Indians
4. 
   
   Detroit Tigers
5. 
   
   Washington Senators
6. 
   
   Philadelphia Athletics    head-on vs. NL
7. 
   
   Boston Red Sox    head-on vs. NL
8. 
   
   Chicago White Sox    head-on vs. NL

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. 

Finally allied, the NL and AL firmly put down a challenge by the Federal League in 1914-1915.

The NL/AL War went Cold status.  It turned into a Golden Age Game of Franchise Chicken.

Who was going to blink first?

Throw in some planes, trains and automobiles and now it's a whole new game.

The Boston Nationals blinked.  The Americans win the battle of Boston in 1953.  Wicked!

Milwaukee gets a third team and supports the Braves to the tune of 2 million fannies a season and the rest of Baseball said, "Oh $hnap!!"

The Battle of St. Louis was won by the Nationals in 1954 and the Browns fled east to Baltimore where the Orioles had the rest of Baseball saying out loud, "OH $$HNAPP!!"

Now more and more teams were getting the fever and the only prescription, was more U-HAULS.

The Battle of Brotherly Love was won by the Nationals in 1956 and Kansas City was the new home of the American A's.  This time the owners just flat out declared, "Holy Chitt!!"

Just in time for 1958, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants got caught in bed together and eloped to the Left Coast.  This is where everything changes.  This is when everyone stopped being kids; when the Dodgers and Giants got caught wearing leather chaps, snappin whips with red rubber balls in mouth!  Filthy Hanzel and Dirty Gretel made all the wanna-be's take stock of the situation.  If the MLB was being run like a Roman Toga Party and they didn't let anyone in to their little club, a certain MLB who shall remain nameless was gonna get served with papers.

Better yet, a lawyer named William Shea, in concert and on behalf of interested owners (like Mrs. Joan Payson; a NY Giants season ticket holder who's team abandoned her), declared their intentions to establish a third Major League; the Continental League.

Greed made MLB compete head to head in 5 cities.

When the owners saw there was money to be made by moving, Greed made teams abandon their fan bases to pick another cities' pockets.

C'mon!?  How long did they think they could keep everything for themselves (16 owners) with all those markets out there?  I don't think they were thinking at all.  They were asleep behind the wheel because they were arrogant (just like your ENRON'S etc.).  So what happened?  In their drunken stupor, they got served.

The writing was on the wall and they had to open the doors of the club.  That's Capitalism folks.  That's America!  If your city has a team that was not one of the original 16 (and their movement), you can thank the Continental League and the MLB owners for being sloppy drunks.

There will not be contraction; Not likely; Not Soon.  Not happening.

The lawsuits are still pending in a sense and cities are still lined up waiting for theirs while they hold on to "Letters of Shut-Up and Wait Your Turn".

The Continental League, incorporated 1959;

a direct causality of the NL and NYC's lack of a representative.

Disbanded in 1960 based on MLB acceptance of franchise movement and expansion.

It's no different than the exclusion practices prior to 1947.  It was unspoken; the unwritten rule; it was understood.  Shut-up and wait your turn.

The original idea; 8 teams:

1. 
   
   New York
2. 
   
   Buffalo
3. 
   
   Ft. Worth
4. 
   
   Denver
5. 
   
   Houston
6. 
   
   Minneapolis (St. Paul)
7. 
   
   Atlanta
8. 
   
   Toronto

As you can see, since 1960, everyone got their team, except Buffalo.  The Senators were allowed to move in to MINN, and the void left behind would be filled by a 2nd Wash team.  In the 60's Buffalo had a population of 600,000 strong.  Today they sit at 250,000.  You can see how they just might loose their football team.

The Continental League also had plans for expansion of their own; in concept of course:

1. 
   
   Montreal
2. 
   
   Indianapolis
3. 
   
   Miami
4. 
   
   New Orleans
5. 
   
   Portland
6. 
   
   Seattle
7. 
   
   Honolulu
8. 
   
   Jersey City

You see what's going on here, don't you?  As far as the present day dilemma, MLB has to give Seattle someone closer to home.  Their travel is ridiculous and they're not happy about it.  Besides, after the Seattle Pilots folded after one year and Selig purchased and moved them to Milwaukee (their 4th team!), Seattle was working on a promise the next team would be theirs.  They got it in 1977.  MLB made a lot of promises.  If MLB doesn't expand, they have to shuffle the deck if they want to be in relative geographical harmony.  That means LA/LAA in the same division  OR  breaking up the CUBS/CARDS  OR  having NYM/NYY/BOS in same division....it doesn't have to be those but this is certain - A new rivalry must be created or an old one must be broken up.  It's the only way without expanding the league.  Like I said, there are still cities waiting  to collect on their I.O.U.'s.  The only scenario the Twins would have been contracted was if Mr. Pohlad retired and folded the team.  That's it.  That's law 101.  The team was his and he held that right but DUD Selig couldn't deny a buyer if the Twins owner was selling.  Contraction is a myth people.

Like I said, MLB will address Seattle's burdensome travel by getting them another team; Portland maybe.  My Spidey Sense tells me they are dying to get in Las Vegas.  Both cities work for Seattle if it means they won't have to fly to Los Angeles or Texas anymore.

And you can bet, the owners know there is labor strife ahead when the current contract expires.  They might want to pad their pockets with some expansion fees to dull their nerves.  Expansion has to come in a pair, obviously.  Portland and Las Vegas just might be the winners.  They make the most sense geographically.

Getting back to the teams, after MLB realized their mortality, Baseball moved into LA(A), Washington (2),

NY (Mets) and HOU.  The A's bounced from K.C. and landed in Oakland.  The Milwaukee Honeymoon Effect wore off and the Braves broke for Atlanta.  K.C. got a team again.  S.D. and Montreal got theirs.  Seattle got one then lost it and Selig was there with his Pooper-Scooper and made Brewers out of them.  The Washington Senators Junior got tired of D.C. too and went to Arlington.

Then MLB started making good on their promises.  Seattle got another and Toronto their first in 1977.  Florida, Colorado, Arizona and Tampa bring us up to date.

What options does MLB have?  Left on the original Continental League docket is:

1. Buffalo?   Not happening.
2. Indianapolis?     Would make the region too crowded.
3. New Orleans?  Fits perfectly between Texas and Florida.  Hmmm?!
4. Portland?    Discussed, very viable!
5. Honolulu?     MLB is crazy enough to do it!!
6. Jersey City?    Maybe...not exactly,  but north New Jersey is dense and has always been a location of interest.

Ten of the original Continental League cities have been satisfied.  Six have not.  After having said all this, Las Vegas, Portland and New Orleans seem most likely.  I'd like to add Vancouver to this list of most likely candidates.

Dark Horse candidates?  Charlotte, Salt Lake City, Orlando

Does anyone remember plans for the United States Baseball League?  In 1995, this League was to be an equal equity system between players, owners, agents, and whatever other interested parties and municipalities.  This was their idea:

1. Washington -     since filled by the Nationals.
2. Buffalo
3. Tampa Bay -     since filled by Rays
4. Baltimore
5. New York
6. Toronto
7. Los Angeles
8. Texas
9. Kansas City
10. New Orleans
11. Oakland/San Jose
12. Phoenix -     since filled by D-Backs

They even had ideas for foriegn expansion into Mexico City, San Juan, Monterrey and Vancouver.

In conclusion, all this was just to say, Bud Selig, I think you're full of Chitt.

You don't want re-alignment or competitive balance.  You're buddies want expansion money.

Say good night Gracie!

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Lipstick on a PIG; Bud Selig's Solution

I know!!  Instead of stopping the bleeding I'll devise a way to best clean up the blood.  Instead of seeking to remedy the root cause of sickness, perhaps we should all just creatively medicate ourselves to mute the symptoms.  Instead of cleaning a cut on your arm and applying a proper dressing, let's just wear a long sleeve shirt and hide the on-setting infection.  Instead of fixing the big hole in the floor, I'll just throw a rug over it and no one will know it's there.  Forget the shooting pain emanating from that infected tooth you choose not going to the dentist for.  Just chew your food on the other side of your mouth and chase it with a shot of Johnny Walker Black (the official idiot juice/stupid water of the NYY by the way....C'Mon!  I haven't taken a cheap shot at them all winter.  Cut me a break, will ya?).  Now hold this thought until I finish scratching this AROD itch I have.

Today's post could have very easily been about A-Rod.  I've been trying to avoid him.  I've RANTed myself silly over the years about him.  Frankly I'm bored with it and him.  I'm not one of those who think now that he has a ring the scrutiny he has historically received should now somehow dissipate like smoke in the breeze.  Sorry, it's not that simple and he is proving why.  ARod did not quit his addiction to controversy in one October detox.  We all know where I'm headed with this.  The story has been out for days and you know the names of the doctors, the Yankee's statement regarding, and all the speculation why ARod was involved with Dr. Galea in the first place without any one's authorization.....(I'm bored already!).  Why ARod and not Beltran and/or Reyes?  Why am I being a biased Met fan?  I'm not.  Beltran and Reyes acted out in the open for the most part.  Beltran had issues with the Met's Med Staff  etc  but everything was out in the open; Reyes ditto.  Trust me though, - I'm upset they're mentioned and involved.  ARod has priors.  And we are finding out that no one connected in this still developing blister is on the same page of music outside Dr. Phillipon and Brian Cashman.  Further speculation is probably best left unsaid until ARod talks to the Feds, then the Yanks, then ultimately the media and us.  (quack-quack...sounds like a duck?)

This is not Yankee Hater talk.  This is ARod hater talk.  The Yankees have nothing to do with this.  Alex Rodriguez played with my cousin in Seattle.  I was a fan of his...once, and of that whole mid-90's Seattle team by default, obviously.  It's AROD I do not like!  ALEX was cool.  ARod is a Monster in the classic Greek Tragedy sense, or the tragic Frankenstein's Monster motif.  It's you're choice.  A monster by any other name is still a monster (or was that a rose?)    ; )

But like I said, this isn't about the Yanks or ARod although my want is to stay on him..  This is about another one of my most frequent targets; Bud Selig - Mr. Of-the-Owners  By-the Owners  For-the-Owners himself.  This is about Bud and his little goofy band of 14 Special Committee Members for On-Field Matters.  C'mon, just the title alone sounds so goofy!  Bud the Dud and his crack staff are toying with thoughts of re-alignment.  Tom Verducci's Sports Illustrated article details MLB's On-Field Staff's goofy little plan for realignment based on team payroll and a team's degree of commitment to making the playoffs in a given year in a musical chair division format.  Did you hear that?  Really?  Is this what 14 Baseball people came up with?  Who are these people?  I want to know because I don't think I'd trust them to mail a letter for me.

HUH?  Put me in the D Division cause I'm not paying for a playoff team this year?  Normally that would have been a cheap shot at the Marlins for pocketing revenue sharing and not increasing payroll by 2 cents.  But this is just too much.  What's happening to our game people?

GOOFY (there's that word again).  Honestly, I can't think of another word to use.  I know what I want to say.  Decorum doesn't permit me to do that here.  This all goes back to the way I started off this post before I digressed about ARod.

Don't go after the heart of the problem; the root cause....Buy it a new suit and stick it in witness protection.

I've never used this term before.  I never thought I would. 

But this is just putting lipstick on a pig!!

Remember Kenesaw Mountain Landis?  He refused to be Baseball's Commissioner if he didn't have full autonomy to preside over Baseball as he saw fit in accordance with Baseball's best interests.

Remember Fay Vincent?  He warned the owners a work stoppage wasn't in the owner's or Baseball's best interest.  He warned the owners about a looming problem called Steroids and wanted to proceed forward with reasonable suspicion and present a grievance to the Union.  Fay also approached MLB about re-alignment that was clearly & obviously in need.  The Chicago Cubs wound up suing Fay Vincent in a local Chicago court as Fay Vincent, Commissioner of Baseball, for even suggesting the St.Louis/Chicago rivalry be tampered with.  Atlanta was in the NL WEST.  St. Louis was in the NL EAST and Houston was a proponent of both teams changing divisions.

Short version...The owners fired Fay Vincent because they tired of Commissioners with backbones and have re-formed the greedy little brat pack that will lead themselves over the cliff like lemmings.  But it was OK to address realignment when it came time to expand and look forward to the expansion fees they'd be pocketing.  Right?

The owners begged Landis to protect them from themselves then.  Just like in life, the newer generations of owners are bed-fellows with gov't and the owners finally have had someone they can stick their arms up his back to speak their bidding.  Selig is one of them folks.  Everything put forward in Tom Verducci's article sounds absolutely ludicrous to me.

There's two things I have an eerie feeling about.  The first thing my Spidey Sense is telling me is the owners are on the same self destructive path they were on before they were put on a leash by Mountain Landis.  They are literally off the chain now.  Selig is merely part of the pack.  Secondly I sense this is just a build-up to MLB expanding by two more teams.  They will use the excuse of having 16 teams in the NL and only 14 in the AL and the need to balance it out.  BULL!!  They have an itch for more expansion fees.  They've been like clockwork.  Whenever they start grumbling about unbalanced vs. balanced schedules and realignment, expansion has always followed.

In my next post I hope to show a little more life because quite frankly this post bored me.  These were two items that I felt needed to be thrown out there.  I'm just a little blunted because it seems this is becoming a yearly ritual of Spring; having to put up with all these sideline items and having the game itself take a back seat.

In my next post I will play Commissioner, TSAR of Baseball and actually give a pragmatic assessment of the situation.  And who knows, I may actually make some sense and best case scenario..

..Save Baseball from Selig!

Can ya hear me now?

Anything is better than putting lipstick on a pig!

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* credit   selig pic- wordpress.com

Canseco and the MONSTER

So Jose Canseco,


Mr. Vindicated himself,

The Daniel Boone of the Steroid Era,

The Capt. (K)Jerk of the Star-Juicing Federation of Cheats,

Bluto, to Mark McGwire's Popeye, said.....,



Jose said "PUFF the MUTANT SLUGGER", McGwire, wasn't being forthright with us yesterday basically calling him a liar.


Jose, Go'way, Jose has been the most truthful person of the whole steroid era. Everything the Oracle at Gold's Gym has said thus far, rang true. Why should we stop believing him now? I wouldn't trust him to mail a letter for me. But he has an axe to grind and we are the beneficiaries. Think about it, most of what we do know about the Steroid Era has either been leaked, as in THE LIST and the Balco investigation, AND whatever JOSE noway! Canseco has told us.


Which gets me back to Puff the Mutant Slugger.

Popeye told Bob Costas that the Steroids didn't help him hit a single home run. He learned his craft and studied and worked hard and was given good DNA, so says him. The steroids were to keep him healthy and on the field.

Really? Really.....really. Really? C'MON!

We waited nine years for this? This is the best he could do after nine years? Really? Really!?

He didn't remember what he took. Typical. He only did HGH one or two times. Typical. He only did it to come back from injury and sustain health. Typical Typical Typical. Check Check Check.. There is a motif in the Genesis here folks. Andy Pettitte and Popeye using the same ruse. Don't forget folks, we had to shake the truth out of Dear Lovable Andy....TWICE! I digress. A-ROD used his LOOSEY GOOSEY time line and stressed about living up to a contract. Yea, whatever.

Whatever DUDES!


Folks I bring you the case for Frankenstein, the Innocent.

Bud Selig is Dr.Frankenstein and his trusty lab assisstant Igor, Donald Fehr. The two together are The Louis and Clark of the Steroid Era, Captain Chaos and his sidekick Confusion, allowing Players to boldly go where no record has gone before. I digress again. Pardon.

You know the legendary tale of Frankenstein, apply here!....so I don't have to get too detailed with this analogy. I'll get right to the heart of this legendary classic we call Frankenstein and the MONSTER we call the Steroid Era. The cast is being played out by players of the much broader ERA I call the Marvin Miller Effect, who because of the money secured to them through agents like Scott Boras, and owners who were always afraid mostly of they themselves, created an environment that pervades all aspects of Baseball and brings us to today. Part of that blanket statement I just made means these players live in fantasy land and believe they exists on a totally different realm than you and me. We the Plebs are just that, bottom of the status ladder. The bottom bottom bottom line why we pay so much to go to a game is because they make they salaries they do, the owners agree to it, and pass the cost off to us. Somehow we blindly agree to this social contract. Of course a few bad apples spoil it for everyone. Of course. 90% are very quite normal. but we don't care about them. We only care about the one's who destroyed our record books like Godzilla trampling through Tokyo. So, we kinda helped create this MONSTER.



But grab pitch-fork in hand and torch too. Because the Monster we didn't mind too much about at first, has gotten out of control and destroyed our hallowed records as we once knew them. Frankenstein the Monster caused the loss of that little girl's life when they played with lillies by the pond.



Here's the whole difference folks. Dr.Frankenstein's MONSTER was innocent. The monster didn't realize it was doing anything wrong when it threw the little girl into the pond. Clever editing prevents us from knowing what really happened in the movie huh? But these players knew.  They knew exactly what they were doing, when they were doing it, how they were doing it,  with who they were doing it, what cycle they should be on, knew the pronounciation of every syllable of every steriod, etc etc...

That makes Frankenstein's Monster Innocent and OUR MLB MONSTERS, guitly. 

KILL THE MONSTER!!!!

pics from:  glue.yahoo.com

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No FEHR vs. No FEAR equals...A FIGHT !

BUD SELIG, Igor to the owner's Frankenstein, will be stepping down from his post, so he says.  DONALD, the biggest hinderance to rectifying the PED-era, FEHR, broke out of town like Spiro Agnew when Richard Nixon's house was about to crumble around him.

Fay Vincent wanted to start with reasonable suspicion and investigate suspected usage of PED's in baseball invoking the best interests of Baseball.  C'mon...we were screaming about Canseco back in 1988!  Fay also stuck his nose in too deep for the owners' tastes, into the negotiations of a collective bargaining agreement when he was still commish.  Both those efforts got him effectively fired by the owners.  They instituted their "Gumba", their "Pizo", and pulled his strings the way they wanted ever since.  Want Evidence? - You explain that 3 Card-Monte he orchestrated with the swap of Boston/Florida and the mothballing of the Expos, sending them off to vacation in Puerto Rico (which incidently is an outrageously beautiful island,...sorry...I strayed), and dropped a cherry on top by allowing Peter Angelos to steal all the new-Nat's TV money?  Selig was/is for the owners, by the owners. 

However he could have shouted from the highest mountain top about steriods, and it would have changed nothing.  Selig's crime is ignorance, and denial planned or otherwise and Crony'ism.  PED talk fell on deaf ears unless Donald Fehr wanted to do something about it.  Which by the way for the last 20 years has meant, Nothing.

MLB/Selig ignored it as long as they could get away with it..  But after the Congressional FreakShow with Slammin' no english Sammy So-So, Groucho, Harpo, Canseco, Raffy and "no interest in the past" Andro-Man McGwire, then the recurring positive tests under terms of the re-opened bargaining agreement, plus leaks from the sample testing list revealing huge names, and full knowledge that he, D.Fehr, himself knew who was on that list, well...He left under the cover of darkness On That Midnight Train to Georgia.  He knows what's up.  Here's what I think...what's up.

I think baseball is tremoring towards the biggest structural upheaval it's been through since Marvin Miller won the right to institute the current model baseball operates by - Free Market, strong Survive and (now subsidize).

You know a salary cap is on the table.  The owners detest arbitration - the single most reason for the escalation of player salaries.  Slotting minor league/amatuer players from the draft is a huge 800 pound gorilla they want resolved also.  Then obviously, steroids.

This is the biggest reason there are so many as-yet unsigned players available.  Have you noticed the preponderance of one and two year deals being signed?  It's because times are-a-changing.

Selig...gone.  Fehr...gone.   We know right from the beginning, the next collective bargaining session is going to be unlike any we've had to endure in nearly two decades.  The Union's no FEHR, and the owner's no FEAR could mean trouble for all of us.  Fight in the schoolyard!!

Enjoy THIS season!   : o


post script:  If you're around my age 40z...If you remember back to at least the 1976 Olympics.....My point is.... because I was about to get stupidly verbose....SAVE!

Say if you were around in the 70z, we knew back then the Eastern Bloc countries were getting juiced like Roman Soldiers drinking after victory.  By the early 80z it was common knowledge.  But because we put baseball on the perverbial pedistal like we do, we ignored it just the same.  We kept paying to see them.

: O

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