TDA Bullpen - Our Writers' Blog

Friday, December 17, 2004

I've Been Carded
I've got two new favorite baseball players - Curtis Thigpen of the Blue Jays and JP Howell of the Royals. Never heard of them? Not too surprising, unless you are a draft maven or watch a lot of college baseball you probably don't know these names. The two players were drafted out of the Texas program this past summer, Howell as the first "sandwich" pick, and Thigpen in the second round.

Why am I hoping that these two players go on to great things? Because Fleer just put out its "2004 Hot Prospects" series, and the baseball cards for the pair were shot by yours truly. When you are a kid one of your fantasies is that you will someday be on a baseball card. Taking the photo for the card is a pretty close second.

The Howell card hasn't come out yet, but Thigpen has already been spotted on eBay.

posted by David 9:33 AM

Thursday, December 16, 2004

MLB's Capitol Punishment

It's Selig, Not Cropp, Pulling the Switch on this Execution

The city council of the District of Columbia heroically drew a line in the stand against corporate welfare -- sort of -- by voting Tuesday to require that any new ballpark in the district be financed at least 50% from private sources. Bearing in mind that the city is still picking up over $400 million of required infrastructure improvements and property acquisition via the right of eminent domain, and is committing to over $100 million in actual stadium construction costs, you wouldn't think requiring Major League Baseball or its designated new owner to pick up about $120 million or so would be a big deal. After all, the District is not just kicking up $600 million plus in new funds, it's providing a reasonable facility (RFK Stadium) right away, and it's building a capital facility that, unlike, say, an arena or a convention center, has virtually no use other than for a single industry to use 81 days in a 365 day year.

The pushback from the baseball establishment has been spearheaded by the likes of Tom Boswell, respected long-time columnist for the Washington Post. Bos wrote a screed against Council Chair Linda Cropp that was well beneath his stature as a baseball writer:

By a 10-3 vote, the council demanded that at least half of the cost of any new stadium be built with private financing, which does not exist, rather than public funding, as stipulated in D.C.'s deal with baseball...A stadium in search of hypothetical funding, funding that may never be found, is not a stadium at all. It is just a convenient political lie.

Of course, the "deal" DC had agreed upon was entirely formulated by DC's Mayor without the participation of the council, in a series of literally back-room meetings with MLB. Back-room meetings done out of the glare of the public spotlight in order to divert taxpayer money to corporate special interests is hardly a new thing in Washington, and public handouts to baseball are nothing new. Our President turned a $106,000 personal investment in the Texas Rangers into a $10 million payout when he sold his small interest in the team, largely due to a completely publically-financed ballpark in Arlington, Texas. City after city has caved in to the special interest that is baseball, a multibillion-dollar highly profitable enterprise that has now had nearly 80% of its capital facilities built at taxpayer expense.

Baseball continues to try to sell the old bar of soap of "economic development" as being the ultimate payoff for a city, even though respected economists like Smith College's Andrew Zimbalist have thoroughly debunked the myth of the ballpark-as-development-engine. And MLB itself will profit by well more than the $120 million it or its buyer for the Expos/Nationals will be asked to pony up for the ballpark -- just on the sale price of the franchise. You'd think that if the Expos/Nats were being run for the benefit of the sport overall, a little investment in a ballpark would be a small downpayment for an almost immediate financial return.

I think Linda Cropp and her nine colleagues are heroes. They haven't voted down baseball in DC, as Boswell so disingenuously suggests. They've simply said that in a time of economic hard times, in a city with limited means as it is, raising taxes of over $700 million is simply too much. We'll throw in $600 million if the industry to benefit puts up $100 million or so, they're saying. Throw us a bone. Give us a sign that this is a genuine public-private partnership, and we'll take it on faith after that that the District will get all these alleged benefits baseball is pledging, and in return you can play in what is by far the largest untapped sports market in the hemisphere.

But the intense, insane greed of baseball, the belief that if they cave in for even one dollar they will no longer be able to milk the public trough, may keep baseball out of DC. And to the DC council I say: more power to you. The line has to be drawn somewhere. If you don't get a baseball team, the city will go on. It will be sad, because baseball fans deserve a team, but extortion -- and that's what this is -- is not a way to do business, build good government, or try to redevelop portions of the city that need some help.

When I lived in Pittsburgh, I paid a portion of my taxes every year to pay for Three Rivers Stadium, thirty years after it had opened. For a while I paid for Three Rivers and the new PNC Park and the new football stadium (the latter of which was at least partly privately-financed). That has not resulted in a big downtown development boom -- the area around PNC is still dedicated to parking, not new businesses -- nor even a winning baseball team. Even the attendance at Pirates' games isn't that much better, after the mismanagement of the club continues to drive fans away with poor play on the field. This is the kind of damage the movie "Field of Dreams" has done -- city after city, like Pittsburgh, has mindlessly obeyed the ethereal commands of "If You Build it, They Will Come" without looking at the actual realities.

Fans should really care about this. Baseball's spiraling labor costs have come 100% as the result of the voluntary actions of the owners. The owners' response has been to get a big portion of the costs of any business -- capital costs for a facility -- to be paid by taxpayers, and in turn they try to spend even more of their money on labor (players) in the vain hope that that's the way to turn a profit. Smart clubs like Oakland and Cleveland proved that large gobs of money is not necessary for a competitve team; Oakland doesn't make a pile of money, but it's solvent in an old facility (paid for by public funds, of course, albeit nearly 40 years ago). San Francisco built the best ballpark in the majors entirely with private money, and they continue to sell out and remain competitive with a mid-level payroll (OK, and a guy named Bonds -- who takes up a good portion of that payroll.)

So, as a baseball fan, I say: Linda Cropp is a hero to the sport, and to her city. A city with continuing crime and public health problems, that can't even raise its own revenues in the manner which the citizens desire because of the lack of true "home rule" and a meddling Congress, can't afford to spend that amount of money without some kind of return. Asking baseball to put up a small portion of the cost of a facility which will be useful only to a monopolistic business is a very, very small thing to ask, and it took guts to demand it as a price of admission.

I have no doubts Mr. Selig will pull the switch after giving DC residents the bait. But this switch will kill baseball for another generation of kids in DC, who had the poor choice of paying with their schools and hospitals for baseball tickets. They'll likely grow up to be soccer fans instead, and we, as baseball fans, will all be poorer in a generation.

posted by The Crank 8:49 AM

Sunday, December 12, 2004

THE EPITOMY OF HUBRIS

By Diane M. Grassi

This was a week for the megalomaniacs of Major League Baseball to lay low.

Let the players' tradings and signings by the owners begin amongst themselves at the Owners' Meetings in Phoenix, AZ. Expect for Commissioner, Bud Selig, and Players Association Executive Director, Don Fehr, to begin to get down to the nitty-gritty on substantive changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement as it relates to illegal substance testing.

And now that the proverbial black eye has been levied against MLB through documentation from the BALCO Grand Jury testimonies, most fans are either disgusted or unphased by the latest foibles in the world of MLB. Both reactions are not good for its future health.

Collectively MLB, the MLB Players Association as well as MLB ownership has done little in the past several years in addressing the illegal substance issue other than to pay it lip service to the public and to the U.S. Congress. But now that the denial can no longer go on, thanks to back-door full and partial admissions of such use by Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield respectively, the issue has to be addressed with at least the appearance of forthrightness.

But as MLB strives to do some serious damage control over the winter and at the same time continue on with its normal pace of operations in order to get ready for the 2005 season, it needs to put its proverbial brood on notice that they need to represent the face of MLB in the most positive way they can. In other words, they should be selective in their choices for dealing with the public-at-large.

That brings us to the "Ultimate Experience" which was facilitated by the best known name in baseball himself, Barry Bonds, and NY Yankee, Alex Rodriguez, arguably the other best known name in all of MLB. It took place at the Marriot Hotel in NYC's Times Square on Friday, December 10th. To say the timing of the event itself was bad for Barry Bonds is an understatement. (He is still under a great cloud of controversy since the Grand Jury testimony was leaked just a week prior.) And for both Bonds and Rodriguez to host such an event in the way in which it was done, did not "ultimately" improve their "approval ratings."

The "Ultimate Experience" invokes images of the political fund raiser, which we all are too familiar with hearing about this past election year. A cocktail party for the well-heeled, was a benefit for the least few in the community, as it was limited to 100 persons, willing to pay the fee of $7500.00 in order to "Meet and Greet" the candidate, I mean ballplayer, in an effort to get a signed baseball and the chance to ask a question of him; although there were areas of questioning which were off limits, such as anything personal or anything having to do with the state of affairs of baseball concerning illegal substances.

Additionally, it was an attempt, at least on Rodriguez' part, as a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of America, with all proceeds going to the Miami, FL chapter. If he is a NY Yankee and holding this event in NY, why not have any of the proceeds go to the NYC chapter? Barry Bonds did not disclose what he was going to do with the money. In other words, for those stooges willing to fork over $7500.00 for five minutes of the player's time, they were not told whether the money which went to Mr. Bonds was going to go to a charity at all.

More curious above all was that this event was co-hosted by Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez; Bonds who does not care what the public thinks of him as he as reiterated many times, and A-Rod, a guy who actually gives the appearance of running for office, given the time he devotes to his public image.

But most important of all, at a time when MLB could really use its players to promote its positive image, two of its biggest stars chose to take the easiest route to earn the quickest return without including the community or its children. While many MLB players are handing out toys to children at local hospitals and volunteering at soup kitchens this time of year, and should be applauded, none of the "Ultimate Experience" proceeds will directly benefit the local communities or fans for which Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez play.

No, not everything about MLB is negative or related to illegal substance abuse, but not everything about playing MLB should be about making money or gratifying one's ego either. Being a star in Major League Baseball carries with it another kind of price tag which has to do with giving back to the community and being held to a higher standard in doing the right thing. And that unfortunately is not taught between the lines.

posted by Diane M. Grassi 3:57 PM

And Steroids Are a Scandal?
I just wanted to quickly comment on a few articles that have gone under the radar recently.

Let's start with this winter meeting report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. What I love is this line:

Despite a payroll bump from prospective new owner Mark Attanasio, Melvin cannot shop in baseball's Saks Fifth Avenue store. And with many of the second-tier free agents getting bigger deals than in recent years, Melvin might be out of luck at Wal-Mart, as well.

Remember how Miller Park was supposed to solve the Brewers' payroll problems? Whoops, oh well, it was only $300M of the taxpayer's money. Well, this isn't the first time we've dealt with the Miller Park Three-Card Monte game in this space. Check out some of our older comments:

Crying in Beertown
Miller Park Funny Money

Meanwhile we have the entire Florida situation. The Marlins won the World Series, and once again, a year later they are playing poor-me. They've entered talks with Las Vegas. This is simply to put pressure on Miami to build them a new stadium. For more added pressure, Pro Player Stadium has declared that the Marlins will be kicked out right around 2010. This way Pro Player can host the likes of soccer and cricket.

Follow the money. Pro Player Stadium is owned by Wayne Huizenga, guess who used to own the Marlins? Their current owner Jeffrey Loria is a piece of work himself. He used to own the Expos, and then MLB more or less funded his purchase of the Marlins by taking the Nationals off his hands. The sale of the Red Sox was also involved. A sale to a lower bidder.

But hey, watch the little birdie that keeps chirping "Steroids are bad! Steroids are bad!", let's keep pouring tons of taxpayer money into publicly-funded stadiums.

posted by David 1:21 PM