Marvin Miller ruined baseball

By salt1907

Politics • June 2010 • Views: 964

owners;

3. The costs imposed by free agency and owners’ legal inability to fight it resulted in increased expansion in the 1990’s together with a wave of municipal financed stadium construction, replacing many relatively new baseball stadiums and plunging teams and (already precarious) cities into debt; and

4. As baseball careers became better than winning the lottery (even for marginal players), players became willing to make deals with the devil by injecting themselves with gonadotropin (for example) in exchange for a .250 average - or sometimes even the ability to rewrite (destroy) baseball’s treasured record book.

I know that is quite a mouthful. It will take more than one… …

Recent Pages by salt1907:
How Japan came to its current situation. George Steinbrenner and Marvin Miller LeBron and Marvin Miller Marvin Miller mad-lib Will the NFL morph into MLB?

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5 comments

Stanghazi Sun, Jun 20, 2010 9:07:05pm

Interesting. Thanks Salt1907. More sports posts, please.

Bob Levin Mon, Jun 21, 2010 1:03:43am

I am a baseball fan, and this is nonsense.

First of all, if anyone reads Bill James' account of the dismantling of the reserve clause, it wasn't dismantled. The Federal Arbitrator ruled that it meant exactly what the English language said it meant, that players can play out their contract, have a ONE YEAR option, and then are free to sign with another team. The owners were interpreting that rule to mean one year and on into perpetuity. Stupid owners.

Second, expansion is good for the sport, owners are still making money hand over fist, and the stadiums that were replaced were astroturfed cookie cutters. No one even liked those places.

The blogger has no clue how good major league players are. Recommended reading--Tim Kurkijan's Is This a Great Game or What? . I think you will find that the top 1/2 percent of any profession is well compensated.

If cities are in debt, it is because of far more complex economic causes than baseball free agency.

While the Orioles fortunes have dropped, coinciding with the brilliant ownership of Peter Angelos, both the Pirates and the Royals still have functioning farm systems. The Royals fortunes reversed when the Braves signed John Schuerholz away from the Royals, and the Braves were doormats when the Royals were winning. Both the Twins and the A's have done very well during the free agent years, and the Yankees, like it or not, were home grown during their winning years under Joe Torre in the late nineties.

Teams win because they are good at evaluating and developing talent.

And just for dessert, read Jim Bouton's account of Marvin Miller defending him against the charge of writing a book about what actually happens in baseball. The owners initiated the penalties against Bouton, and Miller made them back down. Ball Four did more to bring a new generation of fans to baseball than brand new astroturfed stadiums.

salt1907 Mon, Jun 21, 2010 6:23:06am

The post is not about the details of what happened, but the consequences. The particular nuances of the ruling are not the issue. The consequences are.

Yes, there are many reasons for the bankruptcy of the cities, and this is one of them. Yes, the Pirates and Royals have a functioning farm system - but they are themselves part of that farm system for whatever team can afford to buy their homegrown talent. Yes, the top 1/2 percent is well compensated, but so is the bottom 1/2 percent. Yes, the Yankees grew some talent at home, but they were able to keep that talent only because they are in a major market. Yes, the Twins are doing well, but how long can they hang on to their talent? The Pirates did well for 3 years in the early 90's, but it could not last because they could not afford to keep their homegrown talent - Bonds, Bonilla, etc. They will do well again (someday), but it will not last.

And maybe some of the owners are making money, but that money comes from corporate sponsorship and luxury box usage in stadiums built with public debt - debt that will never be repaid.

If you like the current state of baseball and public finance, then feel free to erect your shrines to Marvin Miller. But give credit where credit is due. Don't worship Miller while clamoring for the head of the Royal's manager every time they have a losing season.

There are many issues to be fleshed out. Follow the blog and feel free to argue. It will be a fun debate.

Bob Levin Mon, Jun 21, 2010 11:49:15am

This all started with a poorly worded reserve clause that the owners completely misinterpreted--and they are the ones that wrote it.

Cities are frequently giving tax breaks and providing other incentives to attract business and industry. Because American cities, for the most part, are empty after work hours, sports provide the lifeblood of many restaurants and bars, and other consumer businesses. Cities still fight each other to the death to bring in sports franchises. LA has never stopped fighting with St. Louis to keep the Rams---the Rams.

There is no bottom 1/2 percent in baseball. You and I are the bottom 1/2 percent. Like I said, you don't know how good these players are. Nobody buys the best of the Royals, because there is no best of the Royals. That's how bad their farm system is. The same has been true of the Pirates. These teams lost the ability to evaluate and develop talent. It happens. If you look at the Yankees, they bring up minor leaguers every year who stick to the major league roster. For a few years they tried to buy a starting pitching staff--and that was a colossal failure.

The Yankees are a few years from becoming an old team, and soon after that, Jeter, Posada, Petitte, and Rivera retire. And they will still be good, building off of Cano. The Pirates have been down for a long time--meaning they could have drafted Cano, Albert Pujols, Papelbon, Yadier Molina, Hanley Ramirez, Michael Young, Cole Hamels, Adam Wainwright, and the list goes on.

A lot of the money in baseball comes from television.

I still suggest that you read Bill James. He is a Kansas City fan, wrote spectacularly about baseball. And his writing helped to resurrect the A's. He lives in Kansas City, goes to all of the Royals games. Guess which team he has been helping out the last few years--the Red Sox. The Red Sox hired him to help evaluate talent. Not the Royals. Guess which city Albert Pujols grew up in--KC. They didn't draft him. I can erect a shrine to Miller if I wanted, but that won't change the fact that the Royals--who were good after Miller helped to set McNally and Messersmith free--are an organization that makes bad decisions.

salt1907 Mon, Jun 21, 2010 2:57:52pm

What a coincidence that only the small market teams consistently make bad decisions. The Pirates do get good players, but they can't afford to keep them. Soon, Andrew McCutchen will be gone (or they will spend so much to keep him they will be unable to afford anyone else). In reality, they are only renting McCutchen from NY (or someone else). They have to win now before the lease expires. Or they will trade him before the lease expires. That is what happened to Denny Neagle (sp?), Jason Bey, etc.

And your argument is not really with the wording of the reserve clause. If they reworded it, can they have it back? Of course not. It is the substance of the reserve clause, not the wording, that the Marvin Miller era has destroyed. Otherwise, the owners would not be fined for "collusion" every time they refuse to hire the latest free agent. In fact, I would not mind the loss of the reserve clause if the owners were allowed to collude. In fact, I propose that the owners be allowed to create an enforceable collusion rule among themselves.

It was quite a coincidence that the Royals' era of bad decisions began only when the homegrown players that existed at the beginning of the Miller era (Brett, etc.) got old and retired.

Good decisions cost money. Bad decisions are cheap. Another coincidence?

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