Monday, April 29, 2002
DAUGHERTY: In Bud we trust
By Paul Daugherty, pdaugherty@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
At one point Sandy Alderson, the man from the baseball commissioner's office, asked rhetorically, “What do you get for a million-two?” Alderson was talking about money the 16 poor teams would get in shared revenues from the 14 rich ones, under a deal proposed by the players' union. “You get nothing for a million-two.”
We'll ponder that while eating macaroni and cheese for the third night in a row.
The baseball men came to the newspaper, fresh from Park Avenue, bearing statistical testimony and selling their version of what's Good For The Game. To them, winning hearts and minds is as important as making a deal with the players. Otherwise, why would they be here, talking to Enquirer people, instead of in a big room somewhere, dividing the game's mountainous swag pile among folks who think a million-two is pocket lint?
The rest of us already know what you get for a million-two. In most real-world precincts, it's quite a lot.
“It's important we try to bring fans along in this process,” Rob Manfred, baseball's labor counsel, said.
Get it settled
Nope. It's important you keep fans in the dark. The more they know, the angrier they get. The more they see how out of touch the game has become with the people who grew up loving it, the more they resent it, and you.
Nobody wants to hear about your plan or their plan. Nobody wants to know why your plan is good and their plan is evil. Nobody cares when the rich rattle their jewelry at each other. Nobody but the rich.
So sit in a room.
Close the door.
Make a deal and stop looking foolish.
God, is this tiresome. Baseball attendance is down because fans who love the game can't stand those who are involved in it. So they don't go. They go to minor-league games, or kids' games, where the rattling of jewelry isn't so loud.
How comical is it? Bud Selig is our best hope. Heaven help us, but in Cincinnati, Bud is The Man. Bud Selig does not make his case with charisma or aplomb. Our most recent Bud-image was of the commissioner before Congress, duking it out with the governor of Minnesota. Bud got belted.
Give little guys chance
Backing Bud is odious. Bud keeps Pete Rose banned. Bud is seen as the man who killed the '94 World Series. Bud tried to kill two teams less than two days after the last World Series. Bud says he's serious about the problem of performance enhancers in baseball, yet baseball has no testing program, so every time another new face who hits 40 homers looks like Atlas or Buddha, we wonder how much of him is real.
But Bud wants what we want. He wants little teams to have a chance. He wants every fan to wake up with hope on March 1. If we want the Reds to see 95 wins again in our lifetimes, we better jump on the Budwagon.
Because the players don't care about competitive balance except in their checking accounts. And the owners can't agree on anything. If Selig can make a lasting peace between them, terrific. We'd bet a million-two he can't.
Meanwhile, the Reds are in first place. Enjoy it, if you dare.
Contact Paul Daugherty at 768-8454; fax: 768-8550; e-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com.
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DAUGHERTY: In Bud we trust
