Pay millions for a chance to go broke? Yeah, right

Sporting News, The, March 20, 1995 by Bob Nightengale

We're supposed to believe baseball is in trouble, remember? Why, if we don't get that luxury tax, clubs will be going broke, owners will be standing in the unemployment fine and baseball will be in ruins. We've listened to that rhetoric for seven months, and after a while, you can't help but become brainwashed.

Then, along comes the owners meetings, and suddenly your senses are jolted back to life.

Do you know any other business that says it's close to ruins but has folks lining up around the block waiting to become partners?

People in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Phoenix were so distressed upon hearing baseball's economic news that they shelled out $130 million for their expansion franchises. They were so desperate to become part of baseball that they are even willing to forgo $5 million a year in broadcasting revenue for the first five years.

"If there was a greater day in the history of Tampa Bay," we hear Tampa Bay Devil Rays Owner Vince Naimoli say, "I don't know what it is."

Says Phoenix Diamondbacks Owner Jerry Colangelo: "We didn't wait as long as Tampa-St. Pete, but we're as excited as they are."

What so you can lose millions of dollars, too? Aren't you guys reading and listening to the doomsday propaganda? Don't you know clubs are going out of business?

Oh, you don't believe it, either.

"I really believe baseball has a very bright future," Colangelo says, "and we want very much to be part of it."

No matter what baseball wants you to believe, Tampa Bay and Phoenix are the 29th and 30th major league franchises. They will begin play in 1998. Baseball didn't say, but sources insist both teams will be in the American League to prevent interleague play.

Although several owners are unsure how Phoenix will fare, particularly considering the place becomes a ghost town in the summer with the temperature hovering around 110, there is no concern with the Tampa Bay franchise.

This area has been jilted seven times by the major leagues; 11 years after the Twins teased them, the folks of Tampa Bay finally have a team of their own.

"This gives me one more reason to keep living that long, till '98 -- baseball," Al Rivkind says. "I'm 91. If I've waited this long for the big leagues to come, I guess another three years won't be so bad."

As the sign across from the ThunderDome at Ferg's Sports Bar and Grill blared: "Thank God finally."

The only thing that put a damper on Tampa Bay's euphoria was its nickname. Apparently, folks don't much care for the nickname. The early reaction has been so negative that Naimoli agreed to a call-in survey this month to allow fans to decide between Devil Rays and Manta Rays. Naimoli really wanted Stingrays, but the name is owned by a winter league team in Maui.

So everyone goes home happy. Tampa Bay and Phoenix have their teams. The owners have their pockets lined with money. The players have 50 more major league jobs available.

Oh yeah, and about those lawsuit threats and promises to support the repeal of baseball's antitrust exemption?

"Forget it" Naimoli says. "My would I do that now?"

Hmm, you don't think baseball officials had that in the backs of their minds when they granted the expansion franchises, do you?

Friendly reminder

Players who volunteered to play in spring-training games are wrestling with the decision whether to play in the regular season. But striking players Brett Butler and Trevor Wilson say it's a moot point.

"The guys who play in spring-training games might as well sign up," Butler says, "because they're already scabs. There's no difference between a guy playing in spring training or the regular season. The damage is already done, and they'll have to live with it.

"Believe me, those guys will be remembered as long as they're in baseball. There will be ramifications. ...

"The biggest misconception is how management will treat them. If they don't think management will hold this against them, they're making a big mistake.

"What happens if a strike-breaker comes into the clubhouse, and a star player says, `You either get him out of here or trade me. I'm not playing with a strikebreaker.' And don't think it won't happen. Nobody wants dissension in their clubhouse. Those guys will get blackballed."

Says Wilson: "As a group, we're all set on one thing: Anyone who plays in these games, their career is over. Their big league career. Did you ever see what a hyena does to a lion? They group up. They just don't go one-on-one."

Ball Five

Jim Bouton, author and former pitcher, on seeing six players from his semipro league in the Yankees' camp: "It's like the owners telling the fans, `This is how stupid we think you are. You'll root for anybody in Yankee pinstripes.' What you're doing is rooting for logos. It's like going to see Frank Sinatra in concert and getting a Karaoke singer."

Alternative view

Reds Owner Marge Schott suggesting how to end the strike: "I think we should bring in the wives to play, or just let dogs on the field. Whenever the doggie catches the ball, it's a home run. I think the wives will play the biggest part in this, anyway. Once the wives don't get that check, believe me, they'll change their minds."