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DETROIT FREE PRESS
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Wednesday, December 13, 2000
METRO FINAL
1F
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 2000, Detroit Free Press
SALARIES RIDE ELEVATOR -- FANS GET THE SHAFT
THERE'S THIS older woman, named Sarah, who for years ran an elevator at Tiger
Stadium. Every summer, she would sit in that rickety, cell-like thing, which
had no ventilation. During July and August it was a furnace.
"Do you think the Tigers could do anything?" she would gently ask, wiping her
brow. "Put in air-conditioning, or get me a fan?"
Year after year, nothing was done.
Finally, a few reporters got together and bought her a portable hand fan. And
there she would sit, this poor woman, running that elevator, sweating, the
tiny propellers of her fan doing their meager best to cool her down -- while
outside, guys like Cecil Fielder were making millions a year and not winning a
thing.
That's the image I have of baseball. The owners throw all their money at the
glamorous (players, stadiums) while assuming the little details -- like people
-- will take care of themselves.
News flash, owners: The people have returned the favor. They have given up on
you. Nobody thinks of baseball as the national pastime anymore. Fewer and
fewer of us watch. Kids couldn't care less.
And when people see that Alex Rodriguez has signed a 10-year contract worth a
quarter of a billion dollars they have two reactions:
1) They throw up.
2) They hate baseball even more.
"Alex is very happy," said his agent, Scott Boras, proving that Alex is now
rich enough to hire someone to smile for him. Boras -- accused of seeking
private jets, private merchandising tents and a private stadium office for his
client -- also let us know that "Alex made an owner decision. He wanted
someone he could communicate with."
Right. Never mind that Rodriguez met the owner only a few weeks ago. At $25.2
million a year, it's so hard to find good conversation.
Does owner's elevator go to the top?
Tom Hicks is Alex's new chatting partner. A billionaire businessman (aren't
they all?), he paid $250 million for the Rangers in 1998. He has now given
that much and $2 million more to one player, which makes him the latest sports
owner to throw his money onto a pile and watch it burn.
"I like to win," Hicks said.
Good luck, Tommy Boy. Here is how many championship rings Rodriguez brought
the Seattle Mariners in six years: zero. So you can stop with any Michael
Jordan comparisons. Jordan was the only sure thing in sports. You paid him, he
won you a title.
Rodriguez has never done it, and he won't do it by himself. Baseball is not
basketball. As proof, here are a few facts for Mr. Hicks:
In December 1998 the Los Angeles Dodgers gave Kevin Brown a contract that
broke the $15 million-a-year barrier. They didn't make the playoffs the past
two seasons.
Two years earlier, Albert Belle got a contract from the White Sox that broke
the $10 million-a-year mark. The Sox are still waiting for a World Series
title.
Meanwhile, the arrogance shown by these people is almost laughable.
"Alex likes golf, and he's going to like the course we picked out for him,"
pitcher Kenny Rogers said of the country club that he and other Rangers
selected for their new buddy.
Give me a break. Like the poor Joe who shucks a week's paycheck to take his
kids to a game gives a hoot about where Rodriguez hits his tee shots.
A hypocrite and a fool
"Alex is the only player is baseball that deserves this kind of contract,"
Hicks said.
This is the same man who sat on a baseball committee and decried the wanton
spending by owners. (He must mean owners other than himself.)
Hicks is not only a hypocrite, he is wrong. Nobody deserves Rodriguez's
contract. But then dot-com millionaires don't deserve piles of money for
companies that quickly sink into oblivion. And movie stars don't deserve $25
million to make bad films.
The difference is, movies still cost less than $10 a ticket. And investors in
dot-coms should know the risks.
Baseball, meanwhile, depends on a hometown. It needs loyalty from repeat
customers to fill 81 games a year.
Here is how baseball is repaying those loyal customers: by hiking ticket and
food prices to a night at the opera. At Yankee Stadium -- which houses the
richest payroll in baseball -- a field level box seat has gone from $25 to $65
in four years.
Get set for the same treatment, Texas.
The Rangers have never won a playoff series. Yet on Tuesday, Rodriguez said,
"They are so committed to winning." When athletes today say a team is
committed to winning, they mean, "I got paid."
But only a few teams can afford that, mostly ones like Texas, which have extra
revenue coming in from private cable TV deals.
Which is why you can bank on baseball's going kapooowee next fall, at the end
of the current labor deal. That's when the sport will learn the price it pays
for treating fans the way one of its teams treated Sarah, the elevator
operator.
"Contracts like Rodriguez's," moaned Gerry Hunsicker, GM of the Houston
Astros, "get us closer to the days when we all go out of business."
And there won't be a wet eye in the house.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "Albom in
the Afternoon" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). He will sign his books at
7:30 p.m. Thursday at Little Book Shoppe On The Park, 380 S. Main, Plymouth.
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