Scorecard

Foreign Aid

All right, owners, let's play the percentages

Last week major league baseball's ownership committee asked the Baseball Club of Seattle for more information about its proposed purchase of the Seattle Mariners (SI, Feb. 10). While the owners consider whether to allow the sale of the club to the group that's being bankrolled with "offshore" money, they might also want to consider that:

100% of all the baseballs used in the major leagues are made in Costa Rica;

at least 90% of all the batting gloves worn by major leaguers are made in the Far East;

at least 90% of the shoes worn by big leaguers are made "offshore";

of the 23 giant video display screens in major league stadiums, 19 were made by Japanese companies, three by a Swiss manufacturer and one by an American firm (the U.S. company is now out of business);

at least 60% of the fielders' gloves and mitts used by major league players are made outside the U.S.;

17% of the players on 40-man rosters were not born in one of the 50 states.
—STEVE WULF

A Vintage Record