It’s no Minor Thing; Disappearing Leagues

     Well as this 21^st year of the 21^st century comes to an end it appears to me that the game of baseball and its fans have come to a less that advantageous position because of the almighty dollar.

     Just look as another work stoppage in the sport of baseball is upon us 27 years after the last one and what did that one get us the fans.  Yea right, just look at the money earned by an ever-increasing number of sometimes marginal players at the expense of you the fans and what are you getting in return, nothing.

     A rookie major leaguer gets about 575K a year for his first couple of years in the show including first class accommodations on the road including transportation at the first-class level.  With food also at the highest level.  Spoiled beyond all belief, eh?

     Then the money goes thru the roof if the player even shows any ability at all and we the fans and sponsors must pay the freight.

     Now if this isn’t bad enough how about the minor leagues going down the dumper, all leagues disappearing like the International, Eastern, Pacific Coast and the NY-Penn are gone.   Now there is Triple-A Northeast, Lower-A Southeast, Double-A Central and others along with a few Complex Leagues so the identity of the sports roots are gone.

     Then there is the “Good Old Boy Network” aka the minor league coaches whose numbers have decreased because of all the cutbacks.  But not to worry as I have been told that some of the organizations did take care of their long serving employees.

     One team I have been told gave their long serving staff about 25k when they were let go along with a grand for each year they served.  Then there is a majority who just gave those let go a sometimes-hearty handshake and maybe a pat on the back.

     Maybe a collective agreement is needed at the minor league level for coaches.

     Also one might take a look at the minor leagues themselves as Pat O’Connor who was the commissioner of the minor leagues is now gone.  The minors are now run by what appears to be major league puppets according to so people in the know I am told.  We fans lose again eh?

     Now with another work stoppage at the major league level are the fans finally going to come first or are they again going to be left behind by the people and players with the big bucks.  Maybe like what was done to the minors needs to be done to the majors and cut back the number of teams to eight or ten in the National and American Leagues.

     An interesting note to the 2021 MLB season and that is the division winners of the six American and National League divisions with the lowest number of wins won the world series.  The Atlanta Braves did it with just 88 regular season wins.  In fact 11 major league teams won more regular season games than the Braves did, just go and look it up.

      It’s all just an idea but what could it hurt, Triple-A ball at least would be back like it used to be and fans would see a better brand of ball on their local fields.  Just a thought eh?