Playing Hard
Ball UCSD Guardian Opinion Spring has returned to San Diego. For a great many
Americans, the coming of spring signals the return of
baseball. The season starts slowly with pitchers and catchers
reporting to spring training. Yet, it ends with fine-tuned
baseball teams facing each other on the field. Each team
hopes to win enough games to earn a pennant and, perhaps,
even a World Series title. As a baseball fan, I wish for nothing more than to go
down to the construction zone that is Jack Murphy Stadium
(or Qualcomm Park at Jack Murphy Field, or whatever) on a
clear, beautiful San Diego day and watch the likes of Ken
Caminiti, Tony Gwynn or Steve Finley dive after a ground
ball or chase down a lazy fly ball in the summer sun.
However, the owners of Major League Baseball have a plan to
throw the system out of lurch -- the introduction of
interleague play. After almost a hundred years of separation, the owners
want to bring the two leagues -- the National and the
American -- together to compete on a regular basis. Previously, the two leagues only competed together twice
a year--once during the middle of the season at the All-Star
Game and again in the fall during the World Series. Despite the tremendous potential that interleague play
has for the rejuvenation of the game, now is not the time
for such a scheme. After more than 90 years, the current set-up still works
like a charm. Millions of fans watch baseball every year, to
follow their team or their players for better or worse. Now
the owners want to change the entire system. While they have their individual reasons for introducing
interleague play, I'd like to wager that most owners were
thinking only about money when discussing this drastic move.
Interleague play could sound like the perfect cure to
Major League Baseball's problems over the past few years.
The mere prospect of superstars from both leagues facing
each other head-on seems like a dream come true to fans,
owners and television producers. However, let's look at the historical record. Expanding
the leagues with new teams, splitting each league into three
divisions and having a ridiculously long postseason have all
contributed to the diminishing quality of professional
baseball. If there are any doubts about this, you only need look at
the statistics. In each year since the leagues were split
into three divisions, at least one division leader has
fought to stay above .500, a mediocre winning percentage for
a top team in baseball. Pitching has been spread so thin
that teams have been forced to scour the globe in search of
new talent. Interleague play will not solve these problems.
The role of the designated hitter (DH) is another
question that should be addressed. Basically, the premise of
the DH is that the team's pitcher can throw the ball like
everyone else, but please take the bat away from him and
give it to someone who can at least hit the side of a barn.
One caveat about the DH -- it's allowed in American League
parks but not National League fields. Some argue that the DH allows players to extend their
careers because it lets them hit, but doesn't require them
to take the field like the rest of the team. However, if a
player is no longer useful, why keep him? Let him take his
millions and go home. These issues underscore a much bigger problem in Major
League Baseball. For more than five years, the owners of
baseball have been operating without a commissioner. The commissioner of baseball is responsible for the
well-being of the game. Because owners seem to be more
concerned over their own well-being, they threw out the last
commissioner, replacing him with one of their own -- "Acting
Commissioner" and Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig. This is a joke. Owners have taken free reign of Major
League Baseball, and it shows. The owners care about as much
for the fans as a person who steps on a bug cares for his
victim. Interleague play is not for our benefit. It is for
the benefit of the owners, the players and the media. Most importantly, interleague play will take away from
the uniqueness and thrill of the All-Star Game and the World
Series. It is this originality that is the entire thrill of
baseball. Baseball is about the unpredictable struggle
between the pitcher and the batter. No matter how many stats
you can recite off the top of your head, baseball is always
a surprise. It's not too late to shelve interleague play. After this
first season, baseball owners will look at how well the idea
is received by the public. They will count their money and
decide whether to continue this system. It's not too late to
convince the owners to change their ways and again make
baseball a game for the fans.
Play Between the Two Leagues Will Only
Benefit Money-Hungry Owners and Television Executives
March 10, 1997