Big market teams willing to spend reaping rewards
According to the United Sates Census Bureau, the five largest American cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia. According to my morning newspaper five of the six first-place teams in major league baseball are the teams representing New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia. Isn’t that a remarkable coincidence? Uh, no it’s not. Franchises in the largest cities command the largest television and radio deals. They draw from the largest fan bases and have more people willing to buy replicas of their caps and uniform shirts. You don’t have to have a Harvard business degree to figure out that they have more money to spend.
If they’re willing to spend it — and right now all of them are — they can sign free agents, extend the contracts of their current stars and trade for high-priced-butproductive players that other teams don’t feel they can afford to keep. They have the best teams and it’s no mystery how they got them.
Baseball has attempted to curtail the rich teams’ advantage with luxury taxes for excessive payrolls and rookie bonuses. For a time those restrictions seemed to be working but clearly, they no longer are. The wealthiest teams all have smart administrators and they will probably continue to dominate until somebody changes the rules — again. Somebody better. Sooner rather than later. Owners need to make major concessions to the players when it comes to free agency. But I think it will be equally important that the players also make some major concessions. The owners need to find ways to level the playing field for all 30 franchises and the players need to accept those changes.
In order for owners and players to prosper, the industry must prosper. The industry will prosper only if the games and the pennant races are interesting.
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On Monday a state high school playoff game in New Jersey was interrupted when the sprinkler system was suddenly activated. I’m reminded of the time when a similar incident happened during a game between the Trenton Thunder and the Reading Phillies. Except that this one was no accident.
The whole thing involved two pitching coaches, both of whom were former major leaguers. Larry Anderson, now a broadcaster, was the pitching coach for the Reading Phillies. He was known to be fun-loving and an occasional prankster. Trenton’s Al Nipper was more austere, but he was a master at slowing down the action when he thought his pitcher needed a break.
On this particular night (the second game of a doubleheader) the hour was late when Nipper strolled to the mound and carried on an extended conversation with his pitcher. All of a sudden the irrigation system erupted and everyone scrambled to avoid being drenched.
Anderson was immediately suspected of causing the incident. He wouldn’t admit it but he never denied it either. Years later I asked him if he was willing to fess up.
“All I know,” he said, “is that when the water went on I was standing next to the switch.”