The two were together in Cincinnati when the Reds won the 1990 World Series. The events in Baltimore, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Florida are indications that baseball is in financial trouble and there is no one at the helm to steer the ship. Baseball is so busy trying to survive that it has no time for public-relations, no time for having fun in the game and certainly no time for the fans. Baseball is run by people who think they are doing the sport a lot of good when they decide on new plans to bring more money into the game or sponsor a realignment plan that would destroy the sanctity of the American and National Leagues. No matter how creative the plan, no matter how good an economic system looks on paper, baseball will not be out of trouble until the folks in the sport start realizing how lucky they are to be in the business.
Baseball needs to stop worrying about the bottom line and start having fun.
Then, when the fans sense that, they will come back. But for now, with all the winter of bickering and money-driven decisions, it is easy to see why baseball is in deep trouble. Baseball's expansion draft is Tuesday in Phoenix when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays select their teams for their first seasons in 1998. There will be a shortage of good pitchers available. And that's easy to understand.