Baseball
Dear Editor,
I’m a loyal baseball fan. I enjoy watching the game, and I’ve never had any qualms about paying a few bucks to go to the ballpark. In fact, I think Major League baseball players deserve every penny they get.
So, in polite disagreement with a column that was ran in a recent issue of the Statesman, I would like to respond to the column and hopefully dispell some myths and untruths about the game.
First, the lack of a salary cap in professional baseball does not mean the game has lost its reputation as being our national pastime. The owners nowadays may be greedy, but the players are just looking for a fair deal. Imagine if your employer got together with all the other businesses in your field and set a cap on salaries, so anyone that paid its employees excessively would be punished. Would that be fair? Nope.
Second, baseball’s fan-base is not dwindling at all. More people watched baseball over the last three years than ever before. To say that the World Series’ ratings have dropped on the east coast is irrelevant, because both teams competing are from California. Ratings on the west coast are soaring.
Third, baseball stadiums are not any more of a fiscal liablity to communities than football or basketball stadiums are. All receive public and private financing. Football stadiums cost more.
Finally, baseball has accumulated a special history in America that separates it from any other institution this country has ever seen. Without baseball, there wouldn’t be a Jackie Robinson or a Fenway Park. There also wouldn’t be a national pastime.
Adam Hislop528-83-0787881-4227