Texas Brouhaha

[Kevin Finnerty]

The fact that the major league baseball clubs and the players themselves give virtually nothing back to the game at the lower levels is an abomination. Umpires and coaches alike are not compensated enough to allow them to continue doing it sometimes. Fields are in sub-standard condition, and equipment is often poor to non-existent.

I worked a game at a dilapidated high school field that hasn't seen an improvement in 15 years. Every inch of the place is a s---hole. It is home to a team that wins LA city championships.

On the left field wall are the retired numbers of Jon Garland and Garret Anderson. To date, those two ingrates have been awarded combined career salaries totaling $110 million. There are some instances where a ballplayer comes back and helps the sport, but the percentage is astoundingly low. Garland and Anderson essentially pull in between 100 and 1000 times what they actually earn, but they can't even let their pocket change spill onto the field where they played.

Baseball has squeezed too much out of us for too long. Bud Selig needed to go away before it got this out of whack. If there isn't an awakening, the outcome may be quite sad.

[canadaump6]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

The fact that the major league baseball clubs and the players themselves give virtually nothing back to the game at the lower levels is an abomination. Umpires and coaches alike are not compensated enough to allow them to continue doing it sometimes. Fields are in sub-standard condition, and equipment is often poor to non-existent.

I worked a game at a dilapidated high school field that hasn't seen an improvement in 15 years. Every inch of the place is a s---hole. It is home to a team that wins LA city championships

Then when a college field is remade with the money of a Major League ballplayer, we find out that he is a steroid-using cheater and scumbag.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

Then when a college field is remade with the money of a Major League ballplayer, we find out that he is a steroid-using cheater and scumbag.

Not every cheater is a scumbag, and not every MLB star is a cheater.

But major league millionaires give less back to charity and society around them than almost any millionaires in America.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

Not every cheater is a scumbag, and not every MLB star is a cheater.

True, but AScrod is both.

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

But major league millionaires give less back to charity and society around them than almost any millionaires in America.

Also true.

[D-Man]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

True, but AScrod is both.

Also true.

An insult to a most delicious seafood.

D

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by D-Man

An insult to a most delicious seafood.

D

Not an ARod fan and not defending him -

Now, ask yourself. How many of your team's players are among the 100 names on the list with ARod's that were not leaked to the media?

[Kevin Finnerty]

And how many more were bright enough to take a substance that wasn't even being tested for in MLB's we-don't-really-want-to-end-$teroid-use testing strategy?

The 100-plus (the famed 5%-to-7%) are not all the ones who are cheaters, they're the ones who are dumb enough and uncool enough to get nabbed in the cursory testing program.

Bud $elig is the principal in this. Fay Vincent sounded the alarm in the early '90s, and he was summarily booted. You can't have a commissioner who stands in the way of profiteering! $elig's is shameful custody of the greatest game in the world.

Beyond that: A-Rod, Bonds and Clemens, three men who are at or near the top of the career earnings list--A-Rod ($198 million and counting) and Bonds ($188 million) are Nos. 1 & 2--all defrauded their way to the top. And for being lying slime, Bonds and Clemens could actually go to prison!

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by waltjp

Not an ARod fan and not defending him -

Now, ask yourself. How many of your team's players are among the 100 names on the list with ARod's that were not leaked to the media?

Who cares? I'm not saying ARod is scum just because he did steroids, or got caught. I say it because he only admitted it after he was forced to, denied it for years, and then tried to blame it on anyone but himself and made excuses instead of manning up and taking responsibility for his actions. And, hey, maybe an apology to all the fans he let down, especially all the kids who looked up to him as a hero.

He is trying to tell us that he didn't know what the injections were for. I get sick of superstar athletes treating us like we're a bunch of stupid hick rubes. Of course as a pro athlete, making millions of dollars with his instrument of a body, is going to know exactly every single thing that goes into it. "I didn't know" is a bunch of BS.

[umpduck11]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

But major league millionaires give less back to charity and society around them than almost any millionaires in America.

I wonder where this information comes from. I'm not disagreeing with it, necessarily, I just don't know how accurate it is. Lots of people I know like to do their good deeds in the shadows, avoiding any pats on the back for doing what they felt was the right thing. Can we say that because we don't hear MLB players crowing about the charity they have helped, then that automatically proves they have done nothing ?

[tiger49]

Funny how people are saying that MLB clubs don't help at the lower level, yet 3 of the 4 biggest sponsors of amature baseball in Ontario have some connection to the MLB and the Toronto Blue Jays.

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

But major league millionaires give less back to charity and society around them than almost any millionaires in America.

As a group or individually?

Source please.

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

As a group or individually?

Source please.

A) Individually.

B) If you read what I wrote, I used the word "almost," which is the truth.

C) You work hard and make the sacrifices to get inside the game and get your own good sources. (I am not saying that I have ever been inside the game as an umpire.)

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty

B) If you read what I wrote, I used the word "almost," which is the truth.

And this "truth" is based on what evidence? Do you or do you not have a source for this comment presented as a fact, or is it your opinion?

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

Source please.

The reason that you and I lock horns is because of the way you talk down to your lower-level umpire brothers just because you have some years on them or something. We're other umpires! Some of us love the game as much as humanly possible. So we don't need to be outclassed by you in some of that haughty stuff you write.

Well, you know what? When it comes to seeking and providing information on the game of baseball, I am at a higher level than you. I have had many more years of that than you and am decidedly more accomplished than you. So what do I do? Should I talk down to you from now on any time a subject ranges outside your area of mastery: umpiring?

[Kevin Finnerty]

Originally Posted by tiger49

Funny how people are saying that MLB clubs don't help at the lower level, yet 3 of the 4 biggest sponsors of amature baseball in Ontario have some connection to the MLB and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Good for Toronto. I commend them.

If you saw the half an effort that is made in the immense baseball hotbed that is Southern California, you would see why I would be apt to make that statement. I also see too many dilapidated fields with discs adorning the outfield fences bearing the names and retired numbers of multimillionaire stars.

Hey Gary Mathews! Five years, fifty mil? Go buy some sod and a backstop and a friggin' line marker for your old high school!