Stick That in Your Pipe

I hate the New York Yankees. I hate their perpetually static pinstripe uniforms. I hate that they play in “The House that Ruth Built” while the Braves play in the stadium named after a shrewd businessman. I hate it that they use the rest of the league as their own farm system (imagine General Manager Brian Cashman talking to owner George Steinbrenner, “You think Alex Rodriguez is ready to play for us? Have the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers developed him enough for us?” “Why yes, I do Brian!”).
The purchase of A-Rod is both ludicrous and unnecessary. The Yankees have one of the top shortstops in the game, and they still bought another amazingly talented shortstop. They traded Alfonso Soriano who dominates at second, for another shortstop, who they will move to third. Clearly “The Boss” is not concerned with chemistry and logic.
Last week, the owner of the Boston Red Sox John Henry called for a salary cap. A statement that was facilitated by the Red Sox’s losing a much-coveted player to their nemesis.
The Yankees’ spending has gotten out of hand and, even though I cringe defending the Yankees, I will. Baseball does not need to curb spending via a salary cap.
MLB and the NHL are the only two pro-sports leagues that have not adopted a salary cap. The NBA adopted one in 1976 and a cap has governed the National Football League since 1993.
Pouring over sports economics, I read that since 1993 the average team salary for an NFL team has exceeded the designated cap. The same interesting discovery was made in the NBA.
The cap is not working in these two leagues, so why would it work for baseball? My enlightening economics tome even says that in the NBA there is a fairness clause that allows teams to exceed the cap and pay a fee as way of punishment. Where is the enforcement? Where are the constables waving their billy clubs asking for order!? Obviously, having a cap does not curb the spending.
Let’s forget these mind-numbing statistics. A salary cap would also take away the passion in baseball.
I remember watching the Yankees play the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series in the bottom floor of Napier Hall. Watching Luis Gonzalez deliver the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning elevated my friends and me out of our seats and into sheer triumph. Viewing the underdog Florida Marlins stab and conquer the money-hungry beast of New York sent many into a similar state of rapture.
Salary caps do not need to be in baseball. Life is not fair, and even though there are myriad non-profit organizations trying to make it that way, it never will be.
Bashing the Yanks is fueled by envy (yes, I too wish John Schuerholz would throw around the cash). The way to achieve Yankees-esque dominance is to develop players. Teams are ignoring this. You can’t go out, buy an assortment of all-stars and walk home with the trophy (see the Texas Rangers or Atlanta Braves). One needs to find that vagabond infielder, the lost journeyman, mix in a few vets and a manager who is past retirement and let the pot settle. All of this will coalesce into a nice October (see Florida Marlins or Aneheim Angels).
The Yanks got a lot of their money through gigantic television contracts. You win, people will watch and the contracts will pour in. Fifteen years ago the Yanks signed an upwards of $500 million contract with a huge corporation to broadcast their games. They have not looked back since.
Take heart, fellow Yankees-haters. “Time” magazine released a snippet of information that is encouraging. It says that over the past 15 years the team with the highest paid player has come up quite short. Remember Albert Belle on the White Sox? Or Kevin Brown on the Dodgers?
Get the right players, groom them, find a malleable manager and instill a winning attitude into him, and take out the Cookie Monster, Yankees.
Salary caps are not necessary. Win the old-fashioned way: hard work

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 27 2004. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry