A baseball strike is on. By fans. And the timing couldn't be better. The first day back from the All-Star game's no-winner fiasco. The day labor talks resume with a threatened strike looming.

        Today is the day for fans to stand up and shout: “We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore.”

        Boycott all major league ballparks. Go to a minor league game, instead. Watch the local American Legion teams. They're more fun, anyway.

        Don't watch games on television or listen to them on radio.

        Don't wear caps and shirts with team logos. Don't buy any.

        Organized by fans from several Web sites, the strike against all major league games is an idea whose time has come.

        Empty seats, returned tickets and a flood of letters to the teams would help send the message to players and owners that fans are angry. They don't like being taken for granted, paying ever-steeper prices, wondering if players are pumped up on steroids and being subjected to strikes or the loss of their teams.

        “We're trying to let the players and owners know that there's a third party in this, and that's the fans,” said Don Wadewitz of Milwaukee, whose Web site, MLB Fan Strike, was inundated with messages after Tuesday night's All-Star game.

        “Fans are more fed up now than ever. The All-Star game showed once again that baseball doesn't really care about the fans.”

        Sports Fan Magazine, which claims 100,000 readers, is endorsing the strike.

        “Strike away with a great big hammer,” said Jim Patterson, editor and publisher of the magazine based in Washington. “Don't let the players and owners get away with shutting down the game again.”

        Wadewitz said his site has had nearly 37,000 hits since he started it two months ago. Other disgruntled fans have started their own sites to promote strikes on various dates.

        They joined forces and settled on July 11 for Strike One and Aug. 1 for Strike Two. If the players strike, the fans' Strike Three would follow and last as many days as the players stayed out.

        “We want to prevent a player strike,” said Jeff Santaite, a fan strike organizer from Coral Springs, Fla. “We don't care who's right or who's wrong.”

        Santaite warned that if baseball shuts down again, “there's going to be a mass exodus for the door.”

        He's right.

        Baseball lost a lot of fans, some for several seasons, some forever, after the 1994 strike. Another prolonged strike will be worse, deepening resentments at a time when fans are already fed up with issues like contraction, steroids and high-priced tickets.

        Ten years ago, a day at the ballpark for a family of four cost an average of $86.72, according to Team Marketing Report. Now, far outstripping inflation in general, it costs $145.21.

        “We're the ones who ultimately wind up paying — through higher ticket prices, products, concessions and souvenirs, and yet we are left out of the discussion,” Santaite said. “There is massive discontent among fans in every major league city and throughout the United States and Canada.”

        Heather Holdridge, who attends about 10 Baltimore Orioles games a year, launched the Take Back Baseball site last year to protest the league's plan to cut franchises. About 500 fans sent protest e-mails to Selig as a result.

        She said she's received about 33,000 hits in the last three weeks, since redesigning the site to promote the boycott.

        “We're not expecting empty ballparks,” she said, “but we're hoping for a noticeable decline in attendance.”

        If that happens, baseball would get exactly what it deserves.

        Steve Wilstein is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at swilstein@ap.org

        MLB Fan Strike: www.mlbfanstrike.com
        We The Fans: www.wethefans.com
        Baseball Fans Unite: www.baseballfansunite.org
        Take Back Baseball: www.takebackbaseball.com

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