John Fisher and Major League Baseball pulled off a difficult Reverse Grinch.
With apologies to Dr. Seuss: Well, in Whoville they say, those who dared take a peek, saw that Big Baseball’s small heart shrunk three sizes last week.
Who’da thunk that heart could get smaller?
The Fisher-owned A’s announced this week they would cut off the $400 weekly stipends they pay their minor-league players. Fisher is the first MLB team owner, and so far the only one, to cut off the team’s minor-leaguers.
This move will save Fisher an estimated $1 million. That’s a lot of dough, and a guy’s got to spend his money carefully these days. Especially with an election coming up.
Forbes reported last October that before the 2012 election, Fisher, his two brothers and their mother donated $9 million to Americans For Job Security, a dark money group that used the donations to fund a campaign opposing President Obama.
That’s perfectly legal, an exercise of political freedom, but you would think a guy who could kick in that big to support his political beliefs could afford to pay the ballplayers whose labors helped make him as rich as he is.
Led by Fisher, the fraternity of team owners had a good week, in terms of saving money.
The Giants cut 20 of their minor-leaguers Thursday, saving the team $35,000. Charles Johnson, one of the team’s principal owners, is worth $4.1 billion. You do the math.
The owners, who never open their books to the world, are trying to vilify MLB players in the battle over how to share baseball’s pandemic-related losses. One thing to keep in mind: Team owners tend to have much longer baseball careers than players do.
Before the pandemic, MLB had already begun the process of cutting ties with 40 of its 160 affiliated minor league teams.
That’s a prudent cost-cutting move, and painless ... if you have no soul. The minor leagues are a breeding and nurturing ground for baseball fans. I fell in love with baseball as a kid following my local minor-league team.
Every time an MLB team owner shakes down his city for a new ballpark or other subsidization, he says, “Look at the jobs our team creates! Look at the priceless civic pride and enthusiasm we bring to our city!”
Minor-league towns get those same benefits from their baseball teams. MLB is telling 40 of those baseball towns, “Grab some pine, meat.”
Deep thoughts, cheap shots & bon mots. . .
• Politics is so confusing. Is the Mike Pence who tweeted Friday “We will always stand for the right of Americans to peacefully protest and let their voices be heard” any relation to the Mike Pence who stormed out of an NFL game in 2017 because some players took a knee in silent protest during the national anthem?
• Name a robotic tool that can be instantly re-programmed to clean up messes. Roomba? OK, that’s one.
• Pence and his boss might get the opportunity to show their support for peaceful protesters this coming NFL season.
• Maybe sooner, when NBA action resumes. NBA players stayed out of that protest stuff before, but times change.
• The ESPN documentaries on Michael Jordan and Lance Armstrong were interesting. Now how about a documentary or two on people who become superstars without being bullies and jerks? Just to show the kiddies that it can be done that way.
• Hey, documentarians, here’s a quick starter list for you of Bay Area figures who did not need anger and bullying to rise to greatness: Stephen Curry, Rick Welts, Steve Kerr, Richard Sherman (a jerk to outsiders, but not his teammates), Nnamdi Asomugha, and Tim Lincecum.
• And how about that guy Willie Mays? The Say Hey Kid was no less a superstar than Jordan, and Mays had to overcome more than just a high school coach he didn’t like.
• A sensational documentary would be the story of Bill Spiller, the black golfer who kicked off the battle to integrate professional golf. It started at the 1948 Richmond Open, when Spiller was denied the entry spot he had earned. The rest is forgotten history. Like Jordan, Spiller could be an unpleasant and ill-tempered, but Spiller didn’t have to invent his enemies.
• The late Jim Bouton had an interesting idea for major league baseball: Eliminate team owners. Bouton believed teams should be owned by the people, by the fans, with all profits plowed back into the ballpark and the team. If John Fisher owned the Golden Gate Bridge, he’d pocket the toll money, skimp on painting, and the bridge would soon rust into the Bay.
• Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson? Boring. Give viewers the golf match they really want to see: Obama vs. Trump.
Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler
"difficult" - Google News
May 31, 2020 at 05:54AM
https://ift.tt/2Xj55Z8
A's ownership executes the difficult Reverse Grinch - San Francisco Chronicle
"difficult" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2VWzYBO
https://ift.tt/3d5eskc
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "A's ownership executes the difficult Reverse Grinch - San Francisco Chronicle"
Post a Comment