For as long as I can remember there has been class warfare in Major League Baseball. 

I picture teams like the Pirates, Marlins, and Royals grabbing their newsboy caps and rushing down cobblestone walkways to protest outside the iron gates of George Steinbrenner, and then spontaneously breaking out into choreographed song like the movie Newsies (the role of the Marlins would be played by Mario Lopez). 

While it’s Steinbrenner they protest it’s the long term system that pins them down, and for that they have nothing to blame but Bud Selig, capitalism, and child labor. Why do I picture baseball’s basement dwelling teams pirouetting around in the slum filled streets of the 1890’s?  Is it because much like the entire cast only one of these teams ever really has a chance to move onto a prosperous career (Christian Bale)?  Is it because much like the class warfare at the turn of the century there exists an elitist class in Major League Baseball that can throw its weight around and change the course of its sport?  Is it because I’m absolutely insane for referencing an obscure 1992 musical and comparing it to professional sports?  Yes, on all accounts.

Ever since free agency in the 70s the mismatched revenues and annual franchise budgets has been a taboo issue, a kind of ‘don’t rock the boat’ mentality that almost every commissioner in baseball has let slide by in order to watch the dollars roll in.  When Bud Selig introduced revenue sharing and a way to let the commoners live decent lives, I mean the Marlins break even, it gave hope to baseball that parity may still exist.  The Tampa Bay Rays proved that this year, and the likes of the Twins and A’s have been doing it for the better part of a decade.  Yet now a recession hits America fans will not have the extra income to go out and see the Texas Rangers for $430,382 per game when adding up the tickets, refreshments, parking, gas to get there, Nigerian diamond mine, merchandise, Josh Hamilton’s tattoo bill, and protection fee to Nolan Ryan they’ll have to pay.  America is too worried about their finances to visit Nolan on this the day of his daughter’s wedding.

As I write guys like Bobby Abreu, Ken Griffey Jr., and Adam Dunn are unemployed and waiting to pounce on the best one year offer they can find.  Three years ago these guys would have been raking in inappropriately large contracts that they could have easily pulled hamstrings, get back contusions, and hit .236 with, and yet now they are unable to find suitors as baseball’s elite has no need for them and baseball’s basement is out of room. 

Yet in good times and in bad success in baseball comes down to management.  There is a reason the Oakland A’s have been consistently competitive year in and year out.  There is a reason the Twins, no matter what free agent they lose every off season, are in the hunt for the AL Central division.  There is a reason that the Rays made the World Series with young talent and veteran puzzle pieces getting hot when it matters most.  It’s the management of these franchises that brought these teams to the level of the media giants, a level in which some media giants (the Metropolitans) couldn’t reach.  Critics will say that the Rays were poised to make a run with so much young talent ready mature into a quality team that they got lucky with timing.  Someone had to put this talent together.  Someone drafted them.  Someone brought in veterans like Troy Percival and Cliff Floyd to guide them.  Someone knew they could build a quality team that could play in a warehouse in St. Petersburg. 

That someone was management. 

An upper management that wasn’t like the Royals spending $9 million over two years this off season on Kyle Farnsworth and his fastballs with no movement and nose bleed ERA.  Kyle Farnsworth will not put anyone in the seats, not when you were ranked second to last in attendance last year and now face the worst economy since FDR was wheelin’ and dealin’ (get it, cause he was in a wheelchair, hi-oh).

This is why Billy Beane has a baseball video game coming out featuring him.  He spends a decade building teams and winning division championships with guys you swore sold you your car and has a respectable, albeit tight, budget to work with on an annual basis.  Now as a tsunami of an economy hits American shores he brings in big name players who hit home runs.  What do big name players who hit home runs do?  The same thing they did in the 90’s; put people in the seats.  Giambi and Holliday will be Beane’s Bebop and Rocksteady, and a nearly healthy Eric Chavez may mean the team is poised to be the 90+win team it was for most of the decade.  Also, anytime I can reference anything in my life to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles you’re damn sure I’m going to do it.

The bottom three teams in attendance in 2008 were the Pirates, Royals, and Marlins.  The Pirates have a wonderful stadium.  The Marlins often have the Phillies and Mets come to town.  The Royals wear blue.  That’s it.  Those are your selling points in a horrible economy.  So in a year in which the economy took a downturn the Florida Marlins averaged 16,688 fans, and now as the downturn is still turning…downward, how many people can the Marlins expect

to come out to the ball park?  When looking at the Marlins lineup it certainly isn’t bad, but visions of Harry Doyle in Major League come to mind 

"In case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't… "

Who is going to come to these games?  If you averaged 19k in 2008 what can you expect in 2009? 18k? 12k? 7 people?  As much as the media loves doom and gloom, because doom and gloom gets your attention, the economy really is in trouble when it comes to the consumer.  Yet with so many people worried about losing their careers, life savings, and homes, many Americans still have the same money they had a year ago.  Sure their 401k tanked, but they weren’t using that money to pay the bills.  Yeah they’re a little worried what the economy will do to affect their career, but they haven’t taken a pay cut, and they are now enjoying lower gas prices and discount sales on retail merchandise.  Contrary to the media reports, these people exist, so much so that January 2009 was the largest month at the movie box office in the history of the universe.  That means in the worst economy since the Great Depression Americans went out and spent the most money ever in one month on movies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop.  People still have money, and if their willing to spend it on Kevin James they’ll be willing to spend it on a baseball product they see a good value in.  

The Rays will enjoy a nice fan base jump from last year, the kind that should put them on the fast track out of baseball’s basement and at least into the garage, but what about the Royals and Pirates?  What will keep fans coming out to see perennial losers in person when they can stay home and watch perennial losers on TV?  And let’s face it the Marlins could win two World Series in a six year span and still no one would come see them.  Oh right that happened.

America is in the midst of learning how to run a better business; making better choices in how to manage their finances, build long term strategies, and select personnel.  Small market teams in baseball are no different.  There is a plethora of talent out there willing to take a decent offer just to have the ability to show they can produce to the best of their abilities, and that goes for both the country and its pastime.  It’ll be the best run business that will make it out of the darkness and rise to the top, and they’ll need a lot more than help from guys like Bud Selig, Scott Boras, and especially Mario Lopez.

(Even though we all know Mario couldn’t hurt).