SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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A big discussion on morning radio has been about the Yankees letting the Aaron Judge negotiations go to salary arbitration when he keeps hitting home runs for them. They are getting him on the cheap by modern standards, paying him 'just' $17 million this year, the most he's ever made. He turned down a 7-year, $213 million extension: $30 million per year. Max Scherzer has the highest salary at $43 million. The Angels are paying Mike Trout $7 million and Anthony Rendon $36.5. The Yankees are already paying Gerritt Cole, $36 million.
These numbers brought to mind the many debates I've heard and read over the years about what free agency and player salaries are going to do to the game. The number, (like extreme politics), have been 'normalized' so we are no longer shocked at them. One of the comments that stands out over the years is
"Let me know when the first check bounces". It hasn't yet.
Putting aside the Federal League of 1914-15, a rival league that didn't make it, or the Negro Leagues, no MLB franchise has gone out of business in this century - or the last. In 1899 the National League had 12 teams vying for what was a simple pennant. That meant too many teams were hopelessly out of contention. They also had 'syndicate ownership', which was not a syndicate of investors owning one team but rather the same owner/owners owning more than on team. Stadiums were wooden and went and fell down or burned down so frequently that new stadiums were always being built, each one larger than the last. And in an era where all revenue came from the live gate and concessions, it made the most sense to the owner of more than one team to put the best players from both teams on the roster of the team that was playing in the larger stadium. Nobody wanted to watch the lousy team that played in the smaller stadium that had lost all its stars, so those teams were the ones on the chopping block. they were the Cleveland Spiders, who had the all-time worst record for a major league team, 20-134. The National league also got rid of the Louisville Colonels, the original Baltimore Orioles and the original Washington Senators. The new league would be an 8 team League for the 1900 season. In 1901, the American League opened for business and put teams in national league cities with names the fans remembered, including a new Washinton Senators team, a new team in Cleveland, (the name 'Spiders' was a bad memory so they named it after former Spiders player Lou Sockalexis, thought to be the first American 'Indian' to have played major league baseball), a new Baltimore Orioles team, (who in 1903 became the New York Highlanders and in 1913 the new York Yankees) and teams in Boston called the Red Sox, (the Braves had originally been the 'Red Stockings') and Chicago called the White Sox, (the Cubs had originally bene the 'White Stockings'). They also put a team in St. Louis called the Browns, the original name of the Cardinals before they changed their official color.
There have been franchise shifts over the years but none of the 16 National League and American League franchises has ever gone out of business. They survived two world wars, a depression, apartheid, television, the internet and free agency, which will turn half a century old in four years. The 'rich' teams have not dominated, despite their advantages: The Yankees haven't won the World Series in 13 years. Fifteen different franchises have won it in this century, no one twice in a row.
And despite the big money those ungrateful players demand, the value of baseball franchises has increased enormously. Doubleday bought the Mets for $21 million in 1980, (less than the contract Aaron Judge turned down). Today they are worth $2.650 billion. Way more than the Cleveland Spiders.
These numbers brought to mind the many debates I've heard and read over the years about what free agency and player salaries are going to do to the game. The number, (like extreme politics), have been 'normalized' so we are no longer shocked at them. One of the comments that stands out over the years is
"Let me know when the first check bounces". It hasn't yet.
Putting aside the Federal League of 1914-15, a rival league that didn't make it, or the Negro Leagues, no MLB franchise has gone out of business in this century - or the last. In 1899 the National League had 12 teams vying for what was a simple pennant. That meant too many teams were hopelessly out of contention. They also had 'syndicate ownership', which was not a syndicate of investors owning one team but rather the same owner/owners owning more than on team. Stadiums were wooden and went and fell down or burned down so frequently that new stadiums were always being built, each one larger than the last. And in an era where all revenue came from the live gate and concessions, it made the most sense to the owner of more than one team to put the best players from both teams on the roster of the team that was playing in the larger stadium. Nobody wanted to watch the lousy team that played in the smaller stadium that had lost all its stars, so those teams were the ones on the chopping block. they were the Cleveland Spiders, who had the all-time worst record for a major league team, 20-134. The National league also got rid of the Louisville Colonels, the original Baltimore Orioles and the original Washington Senators. The new league would be an 8 team League for the 1900 season. In 1901, the American League opened for business and put teams in national league cities with names the fans remembered, including a new Washinton Senators team, a new team in Cleveland, (the name 'Spiders' was a bad memory so they named it after former Spiders player Lou Sockalexis, thought to be the first American 'Indian' to have played major league baseball), a new Baltimore Orioles team, (who in 1903 became the New York Highlanders and in 1913 the new York Yankees) and teams in Boston called the Red Sox, (the Braves had originally been the 'Red Stockings') and Chicago called the White Sox, (the Cubs had originally bene the 'White Stockings'). They also put a team in St. Louis called the Browns, the original name of the Cardinals before they changed their official color.
There have been franchise shifts over the years but none of the 16 National League and American League franchises has ever gone out of business. They survived two world wars, a depression, apartheid, television, the internet and free agency, which will turn half a century old in four years. The 'rich' teams have not dominated, despite their advantages: The Yankees haven't won the World Series in 13 years. Fifteen different franchises have won it in this century, no one twice in a row.
And despite the big money those ungrateful players demand, the value of baseball franchises has increased enormously. Doubleday bought the Mets for $21 million in 1980, (less than the contract Aaron Judge turned down). Today they are worth $2.650 billion. Way more than the Cleveland Spiders.
