Posted on 08/24/2002 12:00:21 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
A week ago, the Baseball Union set a strike date for the end of the month. The baseball players have shown that they're not playing around when they vow to strike, because there have been eight strikes in baseball in the past 30 years.
This has to do with, of course, money. A new economic system is being proposed for Major League Baseball, but the players are worried about their salaries being cut if this system is put in place. Presto, the automatic solution is to quit working.
The planning of a strike on the 30th -- and another World Series canceled -- is upsetting to me and many other baseball fans.
You have to understand: I grew up on the baseball field, with my brother playing baseball and my sister playing softball. I started playing – T-Ball at least – when I was four, but even before then, I was playing in the dirt somewhere at a game.
In recent years, I have played competitive baseball. My siblings and I have all been on competitive teams and traveled across the country to play in tournaments where a 100+ teams participated.
Not only have I been around baseball my entire life, I've supported Major League Baseball by watching the games on television, traveling far distances to MLB games, as well as buying a lot of baseball paraphernalia. My favorite team has always been the losing Chicago Cubs and I've never once wanted the Yankees to win a game.
My dad is a baseball fanatic, as is my sister, my brother and myself – even my mother likes to watch baseball and follows the games.
The game of baseball is one of the smartest, difficult and most complex games ever created. Abner Doubleday invented the game in the 1830s and the complexities still boggle the mind of players and fans.
A small ball is thrown up to and sometimes over 100 miles per hour to a batting plate 60 feet away, where a batter with a thin bat has to move his hips, bring the bat around, find the ball, and generate enough bat speed to meet the bat with the ball – this is all done in less than a second.
However, that description is just a tiny fraction of what comes into play with the game of baseball. Yet, even just that complex, nine players must work together to win at this game. No wonder baseball is America's pastime.
Sadly, the game has come from a time where players were loyal to their managers, teams and teammates, to a day and age of greed – and it has nearly come to a point where money is the only tangible factor that comes into play when players makes decisions on which team to play.
After all the players have been blessed with over the years, more is still demanded. They're worried about a cut in pay raises, but I was under the impression that a million dollars in one year was more than enough money for anyone.
The blessings that they have received are all from the baseball fans. Therefore, they owe it to the fans to do whatever it takes to prevent a strike. But money is everything to these guys.
The baseball strike is set for the end of the month. I hope the strike is called off – not only for the benefit of the fans, but also for the benefit of the players, because many fans won't come back.
I have supported baseball for as long as I have been able to, but what do I get back in return? A slap in the face by greedy people who play a children's game as a source of income.
If indeed, the baseball players do strike, I vow that as of the strike date, I will never watch, read, or have anything to do with Major League Baseball until this generation of players are gone. Will you join me?
Greed has taken over the game and it's a sad sight.
Well I favor neither. I favor the free market, which means no caps, no revenue sharing, no lux tax. So I think it's wrong to say I favor owners.
My "stupid" comment was about the view held by some players and the union that a strike will help them.
I think we're close to the same page here. If either of us had enough time, we'd get it straight!
Gotta go pay my taxes...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.