The Christian Broadcasting Network

SPORTS

Baseball's Hit and Run

By Chris Carpenter
CBN.com Producer

CBN.com - Take a moment and imagine the following scenario: Coming off one the greatest individual seasons in the history of Major League Baseball, free agent slugger Barry Bonds is set to sign one of largest contracts in the history of the game with, gulp, the New York Yankees. In doing so, the new single season home run champ is leaving behind a San Francisco Giants team where he dazzled fans for nine seasons. He has also just made the richest team in baseball that much richer.

Upon hearing the news, you scramble to find the latest newspaper or sports web page to dissect and analyze the fine print of the latest mega-contract in the Major Leagues. But there is only one problem. You are shocked to find only one lonely, forlorn story with the terse headline "Bonds signs with Yankees." No inky, bold-faced declaration trumpeting, "Big Apple Barry", "Stocks and Bonds", or "Barry and the Babe." Instead, you find just a small footnote buried at the bottom of the sports page.

This scenario is a sad one but potentially true as Major League Baseball announced to the world last week that they are indeed a dysfunctional business. Offseason player movements now take a backseat to the business of baseball. Specifically, the owners voted 28-2 to eliminate two teams in an effort to "eliminate insufficient local revenues." It would be the first contraction by Major League Baseball since the National League shrank from 12 teams to eight following the 1899 season.

It is no secret that baseball has been teetering on a rather shaky financial tightrope for quite some time but I don’t think anyone thought it would come to this. To see the game fail like this is unfathomable.

Commissioner Bud Selig has said over and over again that while contraction is and has been a last resort proposition, it makes no sense for Major League Baseball to be in markets that do not support its franchise.

This seems to be a common sense solution but in doing so the owners have immediately alienated the Major League Players Union by eliminating 80 Major League jobs and putting a rather large crimp in this year’s free agent signing period.

But beyond the backroom politics of collective bargaining agreements and trying to gain negotiating leverage, Major League Baseball has sent a clear message to fans that they have failed.

While many pundits have optimistically hypothesized that baseball will no longer be a diluted, watered down version of the game our grandfathers loved, it doesn’t change the fact that two cities, most likely Montreal and Minnesota will be losing their major league identities.

Admittedly, Expos fan(s) probably won’t miss their team, which has been consistently outdrawn by dozens of minor league franchises over the last few years. But Minnesota is a much different story.

The Twins, who have won two World Series over the last 15 seasons, saw a 730,000 increase in attendance in 2001 and possesses a significant season ticket base. So, why is Minnesota rumored to be the other team?

For lack of a better word, greed. Owner Carl Pohlad is frustrated that he has been unable to secure public financing for a new stadium in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul. In addition, the current value of the Twins franchise is only $99 million dollars. If he were to accept a buyout to fold the team he would receive a cash infusion of roughly $250 million. There is even a rumor circulating through the baseball underground that Pohlad asked Selig to fold his team. If this were to happen, the state would be without Major League Baseball for the first time since 1961.

Greed seems to be playing a rather large role in Major League Baseball’s current predicament. From Pohlad to the 28 other owners who have visions of more television and merchandising revenue dancing in their heads, all eyes and interests seem to be pointed to the almighty dollar.

For all the cash that flows through our national pastime it seems that the league and its owners would be better stewards of it. This apparently is not the case. Instead, the league creates revenue models designed to create more and more revenue yet its fan base consistently declines. In the past, the end result was to add more and more teams. In this case the solution appears to be franchise elimination.

Major League Baseball and its band of owners could and should take a bit of advice from the scriptures on how to be good stewards of the almighty dollar. The Bible commands us to manage our money wisely and to not let our earthly desires for more overcome us.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, "Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness!"

Philippians 4:19: "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all of your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus."

And perhaps the most telling passage that can be definitely applied to the current state of Major League Baseball can be found in I Timothy 6:6-8. It says, "Yet true religion with contentment is great wealth. After all, we didn’t bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction."

Amen.



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