How The Economics of Baseball Could Care Less About History

I don't like writing this, but to the people who call the shots in the front offices Baseball is a business with little room for nostalgia or history if it gets in the way of bigger profit margins and more luxury booths. Nothing illustrates that point more than than the exuberant sums paid to top players (the Yankees paid more for A-Rod than JP Morgan paid for Bear Sterns)* stadium naming rights, and of course moving franchises and teams in search of greener pastures. For the most part I understand that there is a need for some of these decisions. Owning and managing a team isn't cheap and is seldom hugely profitable. Take the case of the Expos leaving Montreal. The fact of the matter in that situation was that Montreal was averaging about 6,000 fans per game meanwhile the nations capital was starving for a team. I don't like the way Selig went about that one, but in the end it was necessary. What I can not appreciate is when a team disregards history and its fans by chopping down an icon or abandoning its roots, of course I am talking about the loss of Yankee Stadium, but I also point to the relocation of Dodgertown as yet another example of owners with their heads far up their asses with little respect for the history of the game.

As I must, let me begin first and foremost with Yankee Stadium. As you are all aware this is the last season at THE Stadium. For anyone who appreciates baseball this should be nothing short of blasphemy. Yankee Stadium is a shrine, the Mecca of the game. It is the house that Ruth built for God sake, how can you possibly lose such a historic national treasure?? Collectively Yankees fans, and in fact all of baseball, failed by not being more publicly outraged with this lame brained decision. As you may recall Steinbrenner had tried to do this once before when he hinted at moving the team to (gasp) New Jersey. Talk like that was so outrageous that George was coming close to having the villagers storm the castle with pitchforks and torches. But that was then and this is now. Today owners are of the mindset that luxury boxes equal dollars and cheap seats be damned. For me I have never understood the lure of the luxury box. Would I sit in one given the opportunity? Sure. But sitting in an air conditioned room with a waitstaff and a glass partition is akin to watching the game from a sports bar, albeit with a better flat screen TV. Going to games should be about interacting with the players, about taunting the umpires vision and his wife's marital infidelity, about the sounds and smells of the game. It should be about passing a hot dog down the isle to the guy next to you and dropping peanut shells on the ground as you try to juggle a beer. But this isn't just about the loss of Yankee Stadium. To be fair I felt the same way when there was talk of demolishing Fenway Park. Despite my bitter hatred of the Red Sox and everything they stand for, baseball's historic parks should not be traded for corporate extravagance. Sox fans were able to save Fenway by crying bloody murder. In turn Sox management got creative and squeezed seats into every available inch of Fenway. Sure they jacked up ticket prices to the level where to see a game at Fenway requires a Stafford loan, but at least they still have their park. What about Wrigley Field? What happens when Cubs management decides that they need bigger, better, and more modern? Hell, poor Steve Bartman was run out of Chicago for catching a ball, something any one of us would have done in the same situation. Could you imagine the horror of Cubs fans if someone tried to tear down Wrigley field? My point of this rant is that we should strive to preserve classic stadiums. It is too late for New York, but we need to save what little we have left.

This brings me to the next example of how economics of baseball are hurting its history, Dodgertown is closing its doors in favor of a new home in Arizona. Now I am not a Dodgers fan, but I really have no reason to hate them. About the only reason that I have really watched them throughout the years at all was because I was a fan of Oral Hershiser. In fact I still have an issue of Boy's Life Magazine from 1988 with his picture on it. Of course now that Mr. Torre is there I have a new found interest, but anyway. The point is that this is the last and final f-u to the fans on the east coast who remember the days of Ebbets field, and to the people who loyally made the trip to the historic Vero Beach institution. In fact that town is nothing short of the house the Dodgers built. Now one may argue that the Dodgers fan base is truly on the west coast and that it simply makes more sense for them to train closer to home. That simply isn't true, in fact I would argue that there are just as many if not more Dodgers fans on the east coast than on the left coast. There is certainly no less passion. Full disclosure, this may not have been a bandwagon that I would have readily jumped on if not for reading this account by Arjewtino about attending fantasy baseball camp. I highly recommend it, it is a great read and further illustrates what these places mean to real fans.

In a perfect world the fans would have more of a say when it comes to these big decisions. After all it is the fans who ultimately buy the tickets that pays for all the contracts, and in most cases it is their tax payer dollars that build the stadiums for them to play in. As a collective fan base we need to push to save our stadiums from becoming nothing less than parking garages over our favorite memories. Unless we speak with one voice every day we run the risk of losing another piece of baseballs rich history forever.

*Thanks to Abbott for that stat