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'Make it the same' Fans just want baseball to have an even playing fieldPosted: Friday August 16, 2002 6:48 PM
Major League Baseball moved closer to its ninth work stoppage since 1972 on Friday when the players' union set a strike date of Aug. 30. If a labor deal isn't reached by that date, the players will walk off the job and the remainder of the 2002 season will be in jeopardy. CNN spoke with Sports Illustrated's Frank Deford to get his opinion on baseball's labor impasse. Wolf Blitzer: Joining us now with his keen insight on all of this, one of the best sports analysts and commentators in the business, maybe the best, Frank Deford. His latest book is called "An American Summer," a novel dealing with the battle against polio in the 1950s. Deford joins us from Westport, Conn. Frank, thanks for joining us. Tell our viewers in your own way what is going on right now? Frank Deford: Oh, so much of this is history, Wolf. These sides have such rancor for one another and mistrust for one another; the players particularly continue to distrust the owners, even though many of those issues have been resolved years and years ago. And so there's so much of this built up through the years encrusting this relationship that they never seem able to see right ahead, they never see the future, they never see the present. And that's terribly, terribly sad. Blitzer: These players are making a ton of money individually. The owners are making money. To the average fans out there, they simply don't understand what this is all about. Deford: Well, I do think this, Wolf. I think that there's more sympathy -- well, sympathy is perhaps the wrong word -- but there's more feeling against the players right now than I've ever felt in any of these situations before. It is awfully hard to like owners. The very word kind of puts you off, but I think most people feel now that it is the players' turn to turn back, and I think there's a reason for that. Most baseball fans are also basketball fans and football fans and so forth, and they simply know that the NBA and the NFL work better for everybody than does Major League Baseball. And I think they're simply saying, hey, come on, guys, make it the same. Give us -- and particularly in the small cities -- the same chances the small cities have in basketball and football. I think that kind of pressure the players don't feel yet. Maybe they will. Blitzer: Frank, are both sides just posturing right now, or is there a real, real threat of a strike August 30? Deford: Well, there's no doubt that setting a strike date is a tactic, but good Lord, we're only two weeks away. And so you have got to take it in a very real fashion. Now, there is, as you've already heard, that other date that looms just over the horizon, which is September 11. And in many respects September 11 may play more of an issue here than August 30. And also I think this -- leaving aside the terribly raw emotions of the terrorist attack of September 11, is the issue of economy. In this country right now there's an awful lot of people who are out of work and an awful lot of people whose pensions have diminished greatly because of what's going on. I think that's another pressure that's going to work against the players. Sports Illustrated senior contributing writer Frank Deford is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com and appears each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. His new novel, "An American Summer" (Sourcebooks Trade), is available now at bookstores everywhere. |
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