Daddy, make a picture

Responding to Daniel’s comment on my beloved Yankees….

To be a Yankee fan is to be a realist. I save my idealism for the political sphere where I am a starry-eyed left-wing sushi-eating progressive (who happens to live in a lily-white exurb and work in marketing, so shut up!). Baseball is where I can be a cold-hearted capitalist.

Because it never was ‘just a game’ despite what they say on those sepia-toned specials you see on HBO, narrated by Bob Costas and Billy Crystal. It was always about winning and about making money. It’s just that until the free-agency era the only people making money were the owners.

The players made less back in the good old days because the owners treated them like livestock. If it were 1948, A-Rod would be making $20,000, still playing in Texas for a loosing team. Is that a good thing or bad? I don’t know. If A-Rod fills the seats (and can win a few games for the home team), shouldn’t he at least get paid for his marquee value?

To be honest, I’d be the first to argue that teachers, first responders and nursing home orderlies should all get paid more, much much more. But to make a comparision between the salaries of teachers, first responders and nursing home orderlies and A-Rod strikes me as missing the point. A-Rod provides at least some entertainment for the millions he makes plust he can hit an inside fast ball. If you really want to go after someone, go after the CEOs of companies like Halliburton and CACE. Now those guys are evil AND overpaid.

Oh and Gary, I’ll take Yankees vs. Cards and Yankees in six games.