Baseball now is inching toward ugly problems. Football has it right. Look at Pittsburgh. With revenue sharing, salary caps and all - the Steelers have a reason to fall in love with Big Ben. The Jets aren't goping to easily steal him away. But hell - what's the point of a Pirates fan committing a fan crush to Freddy Sanchez? They Yankees will take him away once they feel like it. That's not healthy.
It's not like dry cleaning. Mr. Jefferson would have been damn happy to move on up to the greatest dry cleaner in all of The Empire State. Drive all the losers outta business. But if Steinbrenner makes small market teams a de facto farm system, that is not good for the game. There has to be some type of concern for the greater good - of the league. That's all I mean.
Puh-leeze. “Useless” teams? I don’t like getting into a baseball discussion on a football thread, but why are you going all the way back to the 1890s, where, BTW, the teams you describe as “useless” either folded or relocated, as should be the remedy. There are always going to be good teams and bad teams in every legitimately competitive sports league or leagues. That’s the inevitable result simply of counting wins and losses. And winners and losers, in baseball, football, or other pro sports, aren’t necessarily determined by the population of the city which they represent.
The only other alternative is to that is to have a centalized entity meddle in and predetermine the outcome and have everyone be forced to win exactly half their games and lose half. That may be extreme, but that’s the only way to completely satisfy the socialist instinct prevelant in some sports management circles. Maybe professional wrestling, where all is fixed, is more your speed.