Can you hear me, Bud?
Don’t hate the player. Hate the game. No, I am not going to talk about urban slang from the 1990’s. Then again, the message of that statement is so true. It certainly describes my current feelings about the game of baseball which have been changing and shifting since the Indians traded Victor Martinez to Boston. That trade was a tipping point for me. I had talked myself into the trades of Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia over the last two years. I had cast myself in the role of small to mid-market underdog with business realities. I felt ok. I felt above the hurt and pain of watching these two pitchers go elsewhere. Then the Indians traded Victor Martinez and the world changed.
Up until that point, whenever the big vs. small market conversation arose, I would automatically key in on two parties. First the Yankees for being the Yankees. Secondly and more importantly, the Red Sox for acting just like the Yankees while proclaiming to be some sort of anti-Yankee club. I hated the way the Red Sox stole Manny Ramirez from us. I hated the way the Red Sox fans cried about the Yankees after being the only other bidder for Bernie Williams’ services before he signed his final lucrative contract. Those two teams were my focus and I cast myself as a front office member of my hometown Indians club. I spouted the company lines about winning with value players, and the ebbs and flows of competition and rebuilding. “Build the base and spend on free agency when the time is right.” I will feel that way again at the beginning of the season, I am sure, but not right now.
Today, I am livid with the sport of baseball in general. I am angry with Bud Selig. I am furious with the MLB Players’ Association. I am angry with them for letting their system (d)evolve to this point. I am disgusted that my hometown team is unable to make decisions on players in a way that factors their talents and abilities to play baseball above all. Yes, it is all bubbling to the surface because Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia faced off in game one of the World Series last night, but the seed was planted long ago.
I know that none of the professional sports leagues in the United States (and sometimes a bit in Canada) are perfect. Small market teams still do salary dumps in both the NFL and NBA. I know that the bigger markets will still have some kind of advantage financially. Then again, there are a few things that make it all feel a whole lot different. Tim Duncan, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Karl Malone… I could keep listing for days if I wanted. Somehow in these other games, there is enough structure so that in a great majority of situations where a true franchise player reveals himself, that the team can keep him. That is just simply not the case in baseball. Even in our own case with LeBron James, we know there is a chance he can leave. We also know that it won’t be because another team will outbid the Cavs for his services.
I am just venting, I know. I don’t have any conclusions. I don’t have any words of wisdom. I am not making some sort of ultimatum that I am switching allegiances or that I am going to stop watching the Indians. Also, don’t confuse this rant as absolution for the Indians organization and ownership. Just because they work in a corrupt system doesn’t absolve them of anything. I grew up with the team and no amount of logic, emotion, or anger can go back in time and change that. Still, I have to continue to put whatever disappointment I have in this game out into the ether. I still have hope that it will change someday.
I have hope that one day baseball will realize that it isn’t about the clubs competing against each other. It is about their sport competing against the other pro sports. I have hope that the sport will one day reflect the fact that the Yankees could never be the Yankees unless there were Indians, Pirates, Royals, Brewers, etc. for them to play against. The MLBPA and Bud Selig should be taking dead aim at the NFL, NBA, Nascar, the NHL and the UFC to try and make sure that they are the best, most relevant destination for entertainment dollars and disposable income. Right now baseball has tradition on its side, but that won’t last forever.
Ask the music business that never considered Napster, YouTube, and iPods as they were forcing their fans to buy the same album for the third time on CD after buying the vinyl record and tape before it. The 2009 Indians are just like an album that it feels like we have bought five times over. It won’t last forever without meaningful change. One day maybe my team will be able to keep its best players based solely on the fact that they do things well on the baseball field instead of unloading the ones who do too well and make disproportionate amounts of money. I don’t want to sound like a political slogan, but we desperately need change in this game. Without change you are a stagnant, rotting river of discontent and heartbreak.