The radical notion of the workers running the show was unacceptable to the robber barons who ran 19th century baseball, and the upstart league was crushed after a year. The time may now be ripe for baseball to go back to the past for its future. Even if the players do take the dramatic step of forming a league run by its employees, no one would make the claim that baseball players are on the cutting edge of social activism in America. All the same, the left should not be indifferent to the final outcome of the strike. Progressives need to break out of the cultural isolation which prevents us from engaging the attention of larger sectors of our society.
Sports is a place to start.
By and large the left ignores sports, condemns it as a violent manifestation of patriarchal power, or reduces it to a bread and circus extravaganza which can only distract people from the real work of political activism. There's much truth in all of the above. Unlike television or the movies, which rely on an ethic of individualized consumption, sports by their very nature bring large numbers of people together in a common endeavor. Baseball is a vital part of America's popular culture. Developments on the diamond do have an impact on society.