This season found us paying homage to the greatness of KEN GRIFFEY Jr. and NYC native, the magnificent MANNY RAMIREZ. By the time this season is over we will be watching both of them perform for different ballclubs than when the season began. These two players are a sure-shot first ballot lock to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Why in the world would the teams that hold their contracts want to move them?
This was an economic fire sale by the owners in the MLB. If it were just GRIFFEY Jr. and MANNY then maybe we could call that a contract year coincidence, but when you see all kinds of big name all-star talent get shifted around the league you realize that none of these owners wants to pay the piper. ALEX RODRIGUEZ’s Yankee deal is forcing other teams to dig deep into their pockets (read: profits) as the time to renew some of their big tickets draw near.
I think its a fucked up statement to the fans that have rooted for these players for five to ten years as a member of their respective home teams to now have to decide whether they remain loyal to a player who has brought them excitement or an organization that is only considering their bottom line. It wasn’t just the players who were using the cream and the clear. Since 1996 the MLB’s attendance and profits have been swole like they used the whole box of HGH on their accounting ledgers. Now that the kibosh has come down on their drug party everyone except the Yankees is acting broke.
Bullshit, the whole argument about big market small market teams. Wherever a ballclub exists it receives a windfall of subsidies from the local government. Shit like free real estate to build their stadiums, most of which are unoccupied for more than 3/4ths of the year. There’s usually free infrastructure development to facilitate the fans delivery to these ballparks. Fuck the MLB owners and their mini-fiefdoms fed off the public dole. That shit is called welfare by everyone except the cowards. At least a mother with three children living in the ‘hood wouldn’t charge me $8 for a bottle of beer.
The racist apologist JERRY SEINFELD has said some funny things. One of those lines goes something like this, “Baseball players change teams so often that I feel like I’m rooting for a piece of laundry.” He was fucking right. The shit that really pisses me off though is that I now have to buy another fucking baseball jersey.
