It’s Time to End the Corruption of Baseball
Baseball used to be a simple game, associated with the smell of hot dogs, the sweet dew of the night air as fans rose for the seventh inning stretch, and the beautiful spectacle of the field with its freshly cut grass and newly chalked base lines. Now it seems like each game is won by at least five runs, the stadiums are half empty, and the pride of a baseball radio announcer, once an honorable career, has dwindled along with the game. Additionally, since 1976 players’ salaries have increased 168% a year, numbers too high to be blamed on inflation (Breton 4). These current conditions reflect the growing corruption of baseball.
Why is there corruption in baseball? It’s simple; players
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Despite such an obvious problem, there is little motivation for it to be solved. Most of the people in power to solve the problem don’t want it solved. The owners of big market teams, e.g., George Steinbrener, winner of four World Series since the 1994 strike, are happy with the lack of competition (World 1). They can guarantee their teams will be winners every year, as long as there is no change in the current system. And if their team isn’t a winner, they have the bucks to buy up more of the league’s talent to become even more dominant. The baseball players’ union doesn’t want a change because the players’ salaries keep increasing (Fehr 1). The problem is the players have stopped caring about winning and only care about the size of their salaries.
The obvious options for solving this problem are team or player salary caps, or team profit sharing, which other sports have found successful. But if there is objection to change, the players can strike, as in 1994, then there will be no agreement for change, and the small market teams will lose even more money during the strike. The evidence of the loss from the 1994 strike is shown: MLB claims to have operated at a loss every year from 1975 to 1985, then at a profit every year from then until the strike, although the profit was only $22M in 1992 and $36M in 1993. The strike led to large losses; the reported figures were $375M in 1994,
Comiskey was able to get away with paying low salaries because of the "reserve clause" in players' contracts. This clause prevented players from changing teams without the permission of the owners. Without a union, the players had no bargaining power.
Nothing can just be focused on one thing. Michael Lewis shows this through his constant talk about financial plans the teams make, the spending they have to do. For example, Lewis states that, “the problem is that the Athletics have $40 million to spend on twenty-five players and the Yankees have $126 million. Beane argues that it would be wrong to try to do what the Yankees are doing because latter has three times the money to spend.” Thats just confusing to some including myself. Understanding its a part of baseball that every team has to do, but the interruption of constant money this, money that, lets spend this much on this guy, but give up that guy because of his statistics, its just unbearable. No one wants to read about how the MLB spends their money, people want to read about the fantastic sport of
The media affects society in positive and negative ways. This can be seen in America’s national pastime baseball. Baseball is a sport that became the national sport in the United States in the late 19th century. From the beginning of the sport they tried to keep the highest standards to each player and ball club. There were times of scandal, but of all the things that happen to baseball substance abuse has been portrayed as one of the worst thing a player could do. To defame the baseball was to ruin everything the sport stood for. This research paper will look at one of the worst blotches in baseballs history, the steroid era.
There are five major sports leagues in the United States; Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association (which has what is known as a “soft salary cap), the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. Of these five, only baseball lacks what is known as a salary cap. A salary cap is the upper limit of the combined salaries for a team’s players. In the other four sports I mentioned, having to work within the boundaries of a salary cap is a balancing act, to gain an advantage at one position requires you to be at a disadvantage at another position. For example, to have a top tier quarterback in the NFL like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers and the large salary they command, a team might lack the funds to sign a top tier linebacker or cornerback. With Major League Baseball lacking a salary cap, this balancing act vanishes and teams could sign anyone and everyone they wished. This causes a competitive imbalance that is hurting the sport. Too often we see the same teams making the playoffs and winning championships like the San
Anyone who has been involved in an organized sport, whether it is backyard football or a high school sports team, knows that these sports all have organizations that are responsible for setting rules, determining conditions of play, and penalizing individuals who infringe the rules. Some of the organizations like the National Football league and the MLB are familiar to most people, the rules they follow are not generally understood by anyone who is not closely associated with the sport. Most fans and sport critics assume that what is happening inside these organizations are of little concern to them. However, this is not the case. In the MLB, the New York Yankees spend an excessive amount of money every year to obtain big name players. A
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Every year, it becomes more obvious that many sports in America have problems. For years, Hockey has been criticized for its excessive violence. The National Football League has also been scrutinized for this reason as well as the fact that many of the top players have constantly been in trouble with the law. Major League Baseball is no different. The situation with baseball is more complicated, and is not only ruining the game itself, but also drawing millions of fans away from the sport. The biggest problem is with the high salaries paid to athletes. These salaries are taking the competitiveness out of several sports, especially baseball, where there is no salary cap. Action must be taken
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