Business as usual

Baseball owners, players fan flames of distrust

Here’s a shocker, the lords of baseball and their millionaire players aren’t talking nice. The players’ union accuses the owners of trying to shove down their throat a contraction scheme, which if executed puts at least two clubs out of business.

And the owners' gripe? Well, they claim if you look closely, the union’s fingerprints are all over a Joe McCarthy-like smear campaign against the commissioner, Bud Selig.

The owners suspect that the players are behind the revelations that Selig arranged for a loan for his Milwaukee Brewers from an entity controlled by Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad, who would now be paid handsomely to fold his franchise; media criticism of Selig; and calls for his resignation by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.).

Selig is said to be hot about the attacks, though even more resolved to win concessions from the players.

“I think [Selig] has stood up very well, because he understands the origin and purpose of many of these attacks, some of which have been very personal,’’ offered Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations. “And that is they have originated with, and are pursued by people who have a very different agenda.’’

Great, so name names?

“Oh, I think a lot of it has to do with the players' association, no question about it,’’ said Alderson, one of baseball’s top executives. “I think they have been very directly involved with people like John Conyers in an effort to obscure the basic problems the industry faces . . . I think the association has had extensive communication with people in the media, fermenting this criticism of the commissioner.’’

Told of the accusations, a top union official not so politely suggested Alderson was out of his mind. Union boss Don Fehr was said to have been, in fact, “pretty damn nice’’ on the conflict-of-interest stuff.

Then again, the union’s position is they warned last spring that contraction would cause cane to be raised with some politicians and fans alike. The owners backed off and actually negotiated on the basis of a full complement of teams, with the union now claiming the sides had about 30 meetings last year.

A lot of the goodwill vanished when Selig, during the seventh game of the World Series, informed the union of plans to shut down at least two teams before the 2002 season.

“The notion that they think they could just cavalierly say the Minnesota Twins are dead and that no one would fight it ... they are crazy,’’ said the union official.

Selig hasn’t given up on contraction for this season, but chances grow more remote each day -- even though Alderson says contraction is possible right up to the season’s first pitch. Baseball is currently tied up in the Minnesota courts arguing its legal authority to contract clubs, and ultimately the case won’t be decided until reaching the state supreme court. In the meantime, the Senate Judiciary Committee may hold a hearing on baseball’s antitrust exemption later this month.

The encouraging news for fans is spring training and the regular season figure to go on as planned. With negotiations having resumed, the owners won’t lock out the players and would presumably continue operating under the previous Basic Agreement, which expired in November.

If you cut to the chase, this is all about business, unworldly sums of money, and distrust on both sides.

The owners say the economic structure of the game is seriously flawed. Like the other pro sports, they want some payroll restraint (see: salary cap) and a true form of revenue sharing. The union, selfishly, some say, adamantly opposes any talk of a salary cap.

How financially hamstrung the game is remains open for discussion. Selig has told Congress the industry lost in excess of $200 million in operating money last season. What’s curious, the union says, is more than half the losses came from four clubs -- the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays. At least two, the Braves and Dodgers, have ties to large media companies, and you have to wonder if Arthur Anderson is handling the books.

What’s apparent is the two sides badly need an adult, preferably a commissioner who isn’t doubling as an owner, to talk some sense into them before engaging in another game of chicken.

Bye-bye, so long

Alvin Robertson, a former NBA All-Star and 1984 Olympic gold medalist, is facing three years in prison after a Texas judge revoked his probation. Judge Sid Harle handed down the sentence earlier this week, even though Robertson’s longtime girlfriend recanted her original report to police that he raped her during a Nov. 17 visit to her San Antonio residence.

In the probation revocation hearing, prosecutors needed only show it was likely a violation occurred.

“The problem, Mr. Robertson, is that it's never your fault,’’ the judge said before handing down the prison term. “Everybody has bent over backwards to keep you out of prison.’’

Amen, judge.

According to published reports, the former Arkansas star is on probation from a 1996 burglary conviction involving another girlfriend, who, at the time of the trial, didn’t show up to testify against him. He was already serving a year's probation after pleading no contest in April of 1996 to misdemeanor assault charges involving two other women. In the summer of 1996, assault charges in Toronto against Robertson were dismissed when, it turns out, a female complainant refused to show up and testify.

The parent game

Thomas Junta lands jail time in Boston for killing a fellow hockey dad, and a week or so later you see a hockey dad in Vancouver up on charges after taking a swing at the mother of a bantam team player and overzealous parents causing a youth game to be postponed in Denver. Yikes, what gives? Maybe it’s time testosterone-rich parents confine themselves to the house (not the Big House, folks) and free the peewee and t-ball kids to play in peace.

I caught a glimpse of kid athletics accompanying my 7-year-old to a youth league baseball tryout last weekend. It proved a whole lot more civil than these headline grabbers, but talk about an interesting three-hour experience.

Every kid, or so it seemed, came lugging a canvas bag, stuffed with his own helmet, bat, batting gloves and glove. Picture a couple hundred waist-high big leaguers descending upon a manicured field, shadowed by a parent or two.

The little Fish showed a tad rusty with the bat and in the field (he missed an earlier $40 pre-tryout clinic), though he flashed great wheels (3.77 seconds, home to first). The good news is car windshields in the lot were covered with fliers from a hitting instructor hawking his services (Indoor Facility Now Available!), accompanied by glowing endorsements from a major-league coach and a player who shall go unnamed.

The bad news is the hitting guru already has a waiting list. And you wonder why parents act goofy?

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.

Comments? To e-mail Fish, click here.

 

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