As far as fans might be concerned, Major League Baseball players are running out of strikes. If the sluggers walk out on their jobs Friday, it could mean more Americans turn their backs on their favorite pastime.
It’s no secret baseball hasn’t occupied the same place in American hearts as it did prior to the league’s strike in 1994, when sluggers and fans missed 920 games including the World Series.
Since 1972, work has halted at America’s ballparks eight times. And while it seems a ninth work stoppage seems inevitable, some analysts are saying owners and players might at least agree on one thing - playing the game is more important than their squabble.
If the two sides see eye-to-eye on that one issue, Friday could be a great day if players choose to take the field.
At the heart of this year’s negotiations is a revenue-sharing plan and a proposed “competitive balance” tax, which players see as a salary cap. Those are virtually the same two issues the two sides were debating in 1994.
The proposed balance tax would apply to player payrolls of more than $107 million. By 2006, that threshold would increase to $111 million. But players want the tax to affect payrolls of $130 million or more. Owners also want teams share 36 percent of locally generated revenue, which is up from 20 percent this year and more than the union proposed 33.3 percent.
And owners have agreed to increase player’s minimum salaries by $100,000 to $300,000.
Even if they decide to play, something is going to have to give if Americans are to start piling in the ballparks like they once did.
With all of the haggling over large amounts of money and management deals, baseball is beginning to appear more and more like corporate America.
Players need to begin to realize they are not getting a bum deal with their multi-million dollar contracts. It’s fans who get the bum deal when they are asked to pay for overpriced tickets to see low-budget teams.
The sport no longer boasts the competitive playing field it once did. Each team does not have an equal chance to win a pennant at the start of each new season, because the teams with the biggest budgets already have paid their way through the playoffs before opening day.
While the owners have had their share of faults by approving measures like allowing the league to expand too fast, players hold the power to change baseball for the better. The sluggers need to start using their muscle for the game and not their overflowing pocketbooks.
There was a time when players slugged it out for the names on the front of their jerseys instead of the back. We need to return to those times or there might be a time when no amount of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosas and Mark McGwires can bring fans pouring back into ballparks.
If you play for the money and not for the love of the game, you should get off the turf and let somebody have a shot at playing on the field of his dreams.
