August 30, 2002

9:23 AM

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!" But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed. They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain, and they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again. But will there still be joy in Mudville?
posted by Stan Chin (13 comments total)

woo hoo!
posted by moz at 9:29 AM on August 30, 2002

what woo hoo ? I am pissed. We will all have to go through this again in 2006 if GREED doesnt grow faster.
posted by adnanbwp at 9:33 AM on August 30, 2002

Also, for those interested, some assorted history of Casey at the Bat and even a scorecard. Take that, Newsfilter!
posted by Stan Chin at 9:39 AM on August 30, 2002

All this episode did was reinforce in the public mind just how much money is involved in the "game" of baseball. Strike or no strike, the damage was done - both sides now appear (more than ever) to be money-grubbing greedbags, with little to no concern for the "fans".

There is no joy in Mudville.
posted by yhbc at 9:39 AM on August 30, 2002

beautiful post Stan, btw.
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:42 AM on August 30, 2002

Can we still ask for Bud Selig's head mounted on a Louisville Slugger?
posted by RakDaddy at 10:11 AM on August 30, 2002

the first time players and owners had reached an agreement in collective bargaining without a work stoppage.

Progress, maybe?
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 10:34 AM on August 30, 2002

yhbc: both sides now appear (more than ever) to be money-grubbing greedbags

And how exactly would that make them different from you and me? If someone came to you and said "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to take some of your future earnings away from you (salary, revenue, profit, whatever).", are you telling me that you'd just smile and say "Okay!"?

I don't think anyone but the most naive or young actually thought that modern day sports (or business in general) was about anything but money. It was the 9th labour confrontation (the first without a strike/lockout) in the past 30 years, so it wasn't that big of a surprise.

And kudos to Stan Chin for a very good post.
posted by grum@work at 10:48 AM on August 30, 2002

If someone came to me and said, "I'm sorry, you're only going to make $750K this year to play freaking baseball instead of your usual million," I sure as hell hope that I would react a little differently.

We've got to stop over-paying entertainers.
posted by mikrophon at 12:15 PM on August 30, 2002

We've got to stop over-paying entertainers.

Good point, it has lead to this thought:

I have always wondered why we pick on athletes so much, but nobody ever complains that movie stars get even money for even less work. I mean, movie superstars get $10-20 million per-movie. That's about the same or much more as even the highest paid players get in pro sports, but yet the movie goers of America and the world say nothing. Why is Brad Pitt immune and A-Rod not?
posted by Bag Man at 1:07 PM on August 30, 2002

We've got to stop over-paying entertainers.

Go ahead.
posted by kindall at 1:20 PM on August 30, 2002

Bag Man, agreed. Professional athletes are paid huge sums by the fans because they're the best at what they do. Your local theatre company or unknown band may be more talented than Tom Hanks or Creed, and there's a definite unjust there. However, the difference of athleticism between pros and minors is vast (not counting the "heart" factor). As long as fans keep pumping money into seeing the best athletes play, they have every right to keep taking their money.

I read an interesting article in ESPN: The Magazine this week on NFL's Edgerrin James, said something along the lines of why A-Rod gets paid tens of times more guaranteed money, while the NFL's best Marshall Faulk gets no guarantees, with giant psycho 300 pounders trying to break his legs. Also note that NFL lifetime ends at around 30, while baseball players begin their prime around that age. Oh yeah, and NFL is a cash cow compared to MLB.

The real issue I have with professional sports is still the gauging of taxes from non-fans for stadiums. Let the fans blow money all they want if it makes them happy, don't make me pay for a team I don't support.
posted by Stan Chin at 2:01 PM on August 30, 2002

Here is the ESPN article:

Look at these players who can barely walk when they're done playing. That's gonna be me, so I've got to squeeze everything I can out of this now. We're not guaranteed the money in our contracts like basketball and baseball players are. I ain't hating on nobody in baseball, but I know I'm speaking for every NFL player when I say it ain't right the best baseball player [Alex Rodriguez] gets $252 million and our best player, Marshall Faulk, just signed for $200 million less than that. Ain't no crazy 300-pounders trying to break no baseball player's legs. And Marshall's money ain't even guaranteed, man.
posted by Stan Chin at 2:08 PM on August 30, 2002