Sunday, October 28, 2001
Win now and pay later
Let's hear it for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who celebrated their ride to the 2001 World Series by drawing nearly 1 million fewer fans than they did in their rookie season four years ago. You have to love a ballpark where fans can swim and play basketball during the baseball game.
Does anyone pause during an NFL game to play Home Run Derby?
“You've got to stop the game to get the basketball” is how one Diamondbacks official explained it to The New York Times. Hey, great. And if the basketball happens to arrive on the field at the same time as a long flyball — and an outfielder trips over it — well, that's entertainment.
Who couldn't love the D'backs? Who doesn't root for their owner, Jerry Colangelo? Here's how Colangelo built his team: He stood on the corner and screamed for money. When he spent it all, he screamed for more.
Spent it all
Colangelo is on the edge of the bread line. His partners won't give him any more money. They've already spent $60 million in the last three years. Colangelo got a $20 million, guaranteed loan from Major League Baseball, just to keep the franchise floating. Meantime, he spent $119 million on six free agents after the '99 season, including Randy Johnson.
Before this year, he had 10 veteran players defer $20 million in salary so he could buy more players. He did: Mark Grace, Reggie Sanders and Miguel Batista, among others.
According to USA Today, Colangelo has obligated the team to almost $200 million in deferred payments and guaranteed contracts through 2006. All this for a team that lost 25 percent of its season-ticket base after its first season.
Checkbook baseball
Yep, give it up for the Arizona Marlins, playing checkbook baseball at its laughable worst. The only difference between Colangelo and former Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga is this: Huizenga lost a lot of money in one year; Colangelo will lose a lot for many years.
The D'backs are in the World Series. Meanwhile, the Reds are pondering peddling Sean Casey and/or Dmitri Young, so they can acquire a decent starting pitcher without going into receivership.
The D'backs are celebrating.
The Reds grub for nickels on the sidewalk.
Quarter for an old altar boy, faddah?
This is why baseball stinks.
Even the Yankees, consummate pros with much home-grown talent, are only the Yankees because Steinbrenner can afford to keep them together. It's not just that George goes out and buys what he needs — he does — it's that he has the jack to keep any good player he chooses.
What happens to the D'backs when the debt comes due? Their attendance has been sinking from Day 1: 3.6 million in 1998, 2.7 million this year. Bank One Ballpark was half empty for the first pitch of their first NLCS game.
Reds majority partner Carl Lindner is banking on baseball shuffling its economic deck, to welcome its Have Nots to the table. He's confident Bud Selig will craft a plan that will give the Reds — and others who don't spend money they don't have — a chance to compete. Meanwhile, we put up with the likes of the Arizona Marlins and their owner, who will pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.
Here's hoping the Yankees finish them quickly.
Contact Paul Daugherty at 768-8454; fax: 768-8550; e-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com.
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Win now and pay later
