If you're not watching the World Baseball Classic, you're missing what real baseball is like.
Where men become boys again, giving all they have to win the game because...they want to win.
Not since I was in Little League has baseball been so much fun to experience. I used to collect my baseball cards, know all the starting rotations and even ENJOYED the Houston Astros '70s uniforms.
Back then baseball was a wonder. Every pitch mattered, every split second was a story replayed in my mind while laying in bed trying to get to sleep after watching a classic game. Imagining it was me either on the mound or at the plate, giving it my best.
Somewhere between those wondrous days and now, I have lost all interest in baseball. I could not care less about what my own home team's starting lineup is. To me, Major League Baseball is ruined. Utterly and Completely.
For some people, the whole 'performance enhancing drugs' issue is the problem. For others it's the fact that MLB's integrity is coming into question because they purposely turned a blind eye while the long-ball drew television ratings.
Don't kid yourself if you disagree with that...the NCAA, Olympic committee and the NFL each have had rules against performance enhancing drugs since the 1980s. Alex Rodriguez was "peer-pressured" into it just a couple short years ago when it was still actually not against the rules.
To me, all this is a symptom of the real problem. The symptoms get all the headlines and because of this, covers up the real problem with Major League Baseball: Money.
In an associated press article on ESPN with no writer cited, in April of last season, it listed the salaries of all the teams in the league.
The New York Yankees had a preseason estimated payroll of $209,000,000. The Detroit Tigers were second with a payroll of $139,000,000. Philadelphia had a payroll just under $100,000,000 and the Tampa Bay Rays they played in the World Series had a payroll of just $44,000,000.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing that players shouldn't get all they can. This is America and I don't spell it with a "k."
My point is that pretty much the reason I loved the Rays last year, is BECAUSE they had such a tiny payroll. They were the huge underdog fighting against "the system". Nothing made me happier than the fact that the top two payrolls didn't make the playoffs.
In fact, nearly the only reason left for me to care about baseball is to root against the "buy the championship at any cost" Yankees.
After last season, did they learn their lesson? Of COURSE they did. They spent over $200,000,000 MORE on CC Sabathia, Mark Texiera and others.
So...I'm done. Baseball is dead to me.
Why is baseball the only sport that about half the teams go into the season knowing they aren't going to make a difference? Payrolls. Money.
"My team didn't have hundreds of millions to spend on the best players, so my team picked up a waived pitcher coming off of Tommy John surgery and a couple of 38 year-old utility players." - my friend Pete.
So a franchise fields the team it can afford, hopes to win some games through guts and glory so they can raise the ticket prices and the television contract with the local cable station so they can KEEP the up and coming stars they have now. What about this is a good idea?
Major League Baseball needs a complete overhaul. The World Baseball Classic is putting it to a crying shame.
If you don't see the Korean fans and wonder where that sort of excitement went in American baseball, then you probably live in New York, Los Angeles or Boston, one of the cities where the owner writes a big enough check for you to care about the team at all.
Along these lines, I usually get the argument: "But Ken, just because they paid CC $180 million over the next few years doesn't mean he can't get hurt or suck."
Here's my problem with that argument. First, if C.C. suddenly lost interest in baseball because of his wealth...that's just another problem with all the money. Look at Carl Pavano. He was hurt. A lot.
What was the problem? He was paid a lot of money to be hurt. Was him being hurt the problem? NO, it was the fact he was paid a LOT OF MONEY and was hurt. A lot.
A player's worth should be determined by how much the team suffers when you aren't playing your best versus how much of the team's payroll you're draining. My point is a high priced player gets hurt, it suddenly becomes a story how much he's getting paid. This is a money problem.
Bud Selig, to me, proved what he thought about baseball fans during the All-Star game tie. To me, what Bud said to the ticket-paying public was: "Well, sorry folks...shows over, but we can't let any of our millionaires throw an extra inning or their team will scream 'shenanigans'".
These are professional athletes. People who are supposed to be faster, tougher and stronger than the average person. But now players are coddled commodities. Why? Money.
The World Baseball Classic has one prize: The Championship. While I heard some countries seem to have incentives for their teams to do well, the fact is that these great young men simply want to win and are playing with the enthusiasm of the 12 year-old I've forgotten from my youth.
At the very least, Major League Baseball sorely needs a real salary cap. Simply so that parity is implied, if not enforced.
My home team essentially has the odd shot at making the playoffs because players came out of nowhere last year and ownership gave them contracts with enough money to keep them from hitting free agency for a couple extra years. At least until the players truly blossom and has a contract hold out or go to salary arbitration.
In the end, money is also the culprit for performance enhancing drugs. If it weren't worth millions of dollars to have that extreme edge, why would anyone risk the dangers?
I know this would be probably impossible to implement but, how about a team's payroll being based on where they end up in the standings and playoffs? Then money at least becomes a goal and the playing field is leveled a bit.
Then the player's cut of the team salary depends on his contributions to the club that year based on some actuarial alchemy. This wouldn't prevent stars from still having their own marketing income and shoe contracts. LeBron James of the NBA is proving you can be a huge star in a small market and still be an international celebrity.
Maybe I'm way off here. I admit my view is a bit jaded after all these years. However, in all honesty, even when I see a great major league game at this point it's nothing compared to the excitement that the WBC has generated the last couple weeks.
I just want Major League Baseball to be THAT fun again.
So in that vein, MLB needs to let the old ways die and bring back a real competitiveness and the excitement for the fans that goes along with it.
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