Gary BUTTERWORTH Online

Stratford, NJ, USA

Before writing my full recap of my trip to Chicago and Milwaukee, I should probably explain why I went to begin with.

Most people who know me know that I have been boycotting Major League Baseball since 1994.
Of course, this sometimes presents a challenge, considering that my favorite hobby is visiting sports stadiums.  So, when a minor league baseball teams plays at a historic major league stadium, like last week at Wrigley Field, it piques my interest.  After all, it may be my only chance to ever see a game there.  That’s why I went to Chicago.

But why am I boycotting MLB?
I thought I had given this little lecture to everyone I know, but apparently, I haven’t.  People ask me about this all the time, and honestly, I’m surprised that I haven’t blogged about it before now.

I am boycotting Major League Baseball because of something I like to call “The 5 ‘S’es.”

1. Strike.

   Not only did baseball go on strike, but they canceled the World Series.  I mostly blame the owners (I never understood why sports need salary caps.  If teams can’t be disciplined in their finances, a “balanced budget amendment” would make far more sense), but the players could have done more, too.  Instead, neither party was willing to be the bigger person.  They canceled a great year of baseball, robbed me of a World Series, and began the Montreal/Washington fiasco that continues today.

2. Scheduling.

   The introduction of inter-league play introduced an unbalanced schedule to baseball.
   See, in football, it is only natural that some teams have “strong schedules,” while others play “weak schedules.”  When football teams only play 16 games a year, every team simply cannot play each other.  As a result, some teams get easier opponents than other teams.  It’s a necessary evil.  Baseball, on the other hand, plays 162 games per year.  With this large of a schedule, it should be relatively easy to balance out the schedule so that each team plays every other team the same number of times.  This would put each team on an even playing field, and the standings at the end of the season would mean something.  But after the strike, Major League Baseball introduced the publicity stunt of inter-league play.  Suddenly, some teams found life easier than other teams.  Then, in a further cash-grabbing ploy, MLB moved to increase the number of games against teams in the same time zone.
   The end result?  An uneven playing field and a meaningless standings table.

3. Stadiums.

   

   Old and New Comiskey Park, Chicago. The old stadium, on the left, could hold 11 thousand more people than the newer stadium, on the right--everyone sat much closer to the action and paid less for the privilege. Additionally, the old stadium was privately owned, while the new stadium was built with public funding.

   Despite my love for sports stadiums, the way that Major League Baseball has extorted stadiums from the taxpayers over the past few years has been ridiculous.  Owners have threatened to dissolve, move, or indeed have moved their teams, if the city would not build them a new stadium.  In the old days, if a multi-millionaire wanted a new stadium for his team, he built it.  Now, not only do the taxpayers build it for him, but he also gets a sweetheart deal for low rent.  Or, if you are the owner of the Washington Nationals, you ignore your rent payments and, instead, charge the city for the service of playing in the stadium that they built for you.
   Even though the public built these stadiums, the average fan still gets stuck paying sky-high ticket prices for seats far away from the action.
   (Baseball’s anti-trust exemption complicates the stadium issue, but it doesn’t seem to help it.)

4. Steroids.

   This is self-explanatory.  Two of baseball’s biggest headline-grabbers of the post-strike era (the single-season and all-time home-run records) were fueled by steroids.  The powers that be simply chose to ignore this.  Why should I support an organization that has no regard for its own integrity?

5. Salaries.

   Major League Baseball is hardly unique in paying its stars outrageous salaries.  But even if it is just following the trend in modern major professional sports, this still doesn’t help its case.  I really don’t want to contribute to the problem of spiraling salaries.

Also, there’s one other factor that doesn’t begin with the letter ‘s’: I have simply grown to like minor league baseball more.

So, those are the reasons for my boycott, in order from most important to least important.
I don’t go to games, I don’t watch games on TV, and I don’t buy merchandise.  I don’t follow MLB at all.  Aside from attending the All-Star FanFest in 1996 and a pin I bought for my mom in 2001 (both of which I regret), my boycott has held for 14 years now.

What would it take to get me back to the Majors?
All five of my grievances would need to be fixed.  Since the strike happened and cannot be taken back, I’d accept a personal, written letter of apology from both MLB and the MLB Players’ Association, along with some free tickets (good seats) to show that they meant it.  Short of this, I’d consider going back to MLB after the retirement of the last person who was involved in Major League Baseball in any capacity at the time of the strike.  Of course, grievances 2 through 5 would also need to be addressed first.  Since this doesn’t appear to be happening, it’s likely that I’ll never attend another Major League game.

Yes, I’m aware that the Chicago Cubs probably got a cut of the money I spent on my ticket and food at Wrigley.  And yes, other some Major League teams may also get a cut when when I go to various minor league games.  And no, I don’t boycott MLB’s advertisers (that would just be too much work).  So, I’m aware that my boycott is incomplete and mostly symbolic.  But even still, I think there’s value in that.  And there is definitely value in the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars I have withheld from MLB by not buying tickets for 14 years.

So, there you have it.  That’s why I haven’t been to a MLB game since 1994, and that’s why I don’t intend to go back anytime soon.

Filed under: Baseball, Garyana, Life, Sports Tagged: | baseball strike, MLB boycott