[James]

First of all, I like the game of Baseball. I think that people take the game too seriously. I say go and enjoy a day with family and create some other memories as well, that’s most important. I don’t follow baseball much but I do have the solution to baseball strike problem. My solution is “salary silence” , yes “ salary silence”. This talk of strike effects many people but the core of it are the fans, the owners, and the players.

Fans bring life to any sport, they are around when the chips are down and when their team takes the gold. I feel that it’s okay for the fans to know everything about the teams and the players; to some that is their life of the game. However, If a fan is truly a fan of the sport as entertainment, what is gained by the fan knowing the salary of a player? How does that have any effect on the entertainment benefit the player is getting from watching the game?

Next, Owners are in place to make money off of the risk that they have invested time and money into. Keeping salaries quiet will allow for offering lower salaries because the amount of the salary is not dependent on the next guy. The salary is given based upon the ability, experience, and potential of THAT player. We all have a different story.

Lastly, Players have worked hard to get where they are. It did not happen overnight. These people are being paid for time lost as kids, life as it is today for there familys, and future health problems and security they may encounter long after talk of their salary is “old news”. Players are a select group of individuals who do what they do well. They are paid very well and our society/baseball critics cannot compare our own lives and well-being to that of these players. Some of us at one time in our life had a chance to do what they do. That is the past. Let’s be happy for them.

My solution to the strike issue is “salary silence”. If we begin to keep player salaries between the player, his family and the owners, we won’t have the hipe and criticisms if we don’t know what players are getting paid. It is not Import. We as fans are there to see a great performance; that’s it. Moreover, when other players are aware of other player salaries that drives the greed factor. Lets’ keep it private. We can put into place a governing body to monitor or regulate salaries from the team/owners perspective. Also, Players could be fined if they talk of salaries to other players. But realistically people are much happier when they are not focused on what someone else has when it does not even affect them.

I don’t know of one normal company in America where you can openly discuss pay. Do you? At the company you work for do you legally or openly know what your neighbor is getting paid? How would effect you to know the truth? It is the same thing with baseball because it is still a business.


Thanks