There is No Crying For Baseball

Let me be clear, I love baseball.

Baseball has been my favorite sport since I was a little kid playing Tee-Ball. My neighbors and I figured out a way to play 1-on-1 baseball with a tennis ball. I used to dream I was Omar Vizquel playing shortstop, fielding ground balls with my bare hand while making leaping throws to first.

I cried when the Indians lost the World Series in 2016. I cried in the 2000s when we traded away star player after star player after star player after star player. But now there is no crying for baseball.

The MLB season has been rumored to begin on or around July 1st. However, this all rests on whether or not the players and the owners can agree on salary.

The players want full pay, the owners want a fractionalized salary.

Millionaires versus billionaires.

The millionaires want us to feel bad for them because the billionaires are withholding their full contract due to a potentially shortened season. The billionaires want us to feel bad for them because the millionaires refuse to understand that the billionaires are already losing money by not playing a full season.

I feel bad for no one.

I refuse to sit here and watch some of the wealthiest people on the planet argue over contracts while millions of working class Americans are out of jobs. I will not listen to players and owners complain about the finances of a game while I cannot find a job to begin my post-collegiate life.

If there is one sport that cannot afford to mess this up, it would be baseball. The league is always complaining about declining viewership numbers and attendance drops. This is the time where-- if they can get this right-- they would actually see positive changes and results.

The American people are desperate for sports. They are willing to watch any form of athletic competition that would be put on the air. Baseball has the opportunity to drastically increase their viewership numbers, but it all depends on whether or not they are willing to take the field.

It is time for the players and owners to put away their selfish endeavors for a greater cause. Americans need some form of distraction, some form of joy. Play the game for the people, not for the money.

No one wants to watch wealthy people argue over money.

Just play ball.

Author: Jason Prill