National Pastime and the national interest

Bill Knight column for 12-16, 17 or 18, 2019

Compared to Hot Stove League shockers like the Yankees signing pitcher Gerrit Cole to a nine-year, $324 million contract or rumors of the Cubs shopping third baseman Kris Bryant, it wasn’t surprising that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had taken up a defense of baseball.

What WAS a stunner was that arch-conservatives agreed.

Common ground can be real estate as valuable as an oasis in a desert. Or home plate.

On Nov. 19, 106 congressional members wrote baseball Commissioner Rob Manford, outlining their “firm opposition to Major League baseball’s radical proposal to eliminate numerous Minor League Baseball clubs.”

MLB’s cost-cutting idea would kill 42 minor league teams from coast to coast, and besides progressive Democrats such as Joseph Kennedy III of Massachusetts, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, and Laurie Underwood of Illinois, the letter signers included Republicans Rob Bishop of North Carolina, David McKinley of West Virginia, and Elise Stefanik of New York, a big backer of President Trump.

Bernie’s not having it either – AND he’s joined by U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader and staunch foe of impeaching the president.

MLB also has suggested rearranging dozens of teams in a “Dream League” of players not good enough to be drafted by MLB franchises, which generated $10.3 billion in revenue last year while minor leaguers make between $1,100 and $2,150 a month, as I reported in columns in the last couple of years (adding, “Minor league ballplayers work for peanuts – without Crackerjacks, presumably).

Last May I quoted seven-time MLB All Star Dale Murphy’s comment that, “Minor league players make unpaid interns look like royalty” and reported Joe Sheehan of The Athletic criticizing MLB owners as “a group of people that thinks nothing of lying relentlessly so as to gain access to the public purse.”

Baseball benefits from public funds that finance MLB stadiums, plus a one-of-a-kind exemption from antitrust laws Congress approved, and Sanders argues that’s part of what makes the National Pastime a public trust, and why MLB owes local communities.

“Baseball is a social phenomenon,” Sanders told Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. “It brings people together, from all kinds of backgrounds and races and religions. So baseball cannot be looked at as another business, to make as much money as possible, especially given the fact they made $1.2 billion in profits last year. That’s pretty good. And you don’t have to shut down minor league teams in order to make a bit more. They should pay attention to the needs of those communities, the fans in those communities, and the city governments that have supported local baseball.”

Sanders met with Manfred, after which MLB responded that owners are “committed to negotiating with Minor League Baseball to find solutions that balance the competing interests of local communities, MLB clubs, Minor League owners, and the young players.”

MLB has claimed that abolishing minor-league teams would make player development more efficient, but Sanders, McCarthy and dozens of federal lawmakers think it’s just another business scheme, and the candidate for the White House as a Democrat says corporate profits shouldn’t come at the expense of communities – which is consistent with his outlook on other issues, from health care to the environment.

The bipartisan letter added, “These professional baseball clubs are vital components of our communities because they provide affordable, family-friendly entertainment [and] the abandonment of Minor League clubs by Major League baseball would devastate out communities, their bond purchasers and other stakeholders.”

Such assertions of social priorities sound like advocacy for the Green New Deal or other ideas from democratic socialists like Bernie.

All of a sudden, finding mutual interests affecting everyday people seems like a reasonable bridge across the chasm of political division: a big revolution.

Even “big league,” as Trump’s described things he likes.