So before telling you a little bit about an amazing guy named Mike Shannon — not the Cardinals player and broadcaster Mike Shannon but another baseball icon — let’s give a quick update on the baseball negotiations.
EXACTLY!!!!!! There is so much right about what you said about Mike Shannon's love of the game and so much wrong about MLB not acknowledging and supporting Mike Shannon. The Casey Award should be given at the Hall of Fame! Congratulations of winning it again!
Great article, Joe, and I'll bet Spitball's readership is going to skyrocket. Mike and Jim may need to get some help. Years ago, I subscribed to a similar publication, Elysian Fields Quarterly, that was very well done. I think they stopped publishing over 10 years ago.
Thanks Joe for the article. I use to have a subscription to Spitball. I let it expire and forgot the magazine name. But I sent off my money today. This article for me makes your fee double in value!
Looking at the Spitball website, they have a list of previous award winners, some of them being books that I was unaware existed. My reading list will now include the ones I have not read.
I think the worst thing about the strike isn't that everyone's really mad. It's that people are caring less and less about it every day. There's never any real progress, and let's face it, a few million dollars increase in the salary cap by the owners isn't real progress. So this is going to go on until they kill a lot of the season. I was once privvy to the inside game of a union negotiation (I was there as a vendor, and the execs were just openly bragging about what they were doing, for no reason). The executives were willing to SPEND MONEY, cost themselves millions of dollars, just to screw the union and spite the union leadership. They were happy, even jovial about it, even though they were losing even worse by doing what they were doing. These negotiations are often more about hatred and sticking it to one another than actually making a deal. If you think about this "negotiation" in that way, it makes a lot more sense. Neither side is really going for a fair deal. Those reporting it that way are missing the point.
False equivalency is a big problem here. The owners picked the fight. The owners have cheated and colluded in the past. The owners delayed responding to offers. The owners have not negotiated in good faith. The players offered to play under the current outdated and one-sided (in favor of the owners) deal and the owners locked them out.
I do totally agree about union negotiations. The players need more hard nosed professionals. Bring in Boras.
Rob Smith. I enjoyed reading your post. You’ve been exposed to some Union negotiations. Yet your very first sentence refers to “the strike”. There is no strike, has never been a threat of a strike. It is a LOCKOUT, but the owners really want John Q Public to think it is a strike, thus being the players fault. I’m assuming you’ve read some of Joe’s thoughts on the labor negotiations. Not once has he- or anybody in the comments- referred to this as a strike. Shows how owners can twist the story to their advantage. I don’t mean to pick on you but it is a bit sad.
And I don’t get your “neither side is trying for a fair deal.” I couldn’t disagree more.
This. It's not that I'm angry (I am) or vowing to never watch another game (I'm not) it's just that ....I don't care. And that hurts my soul. (.....and puts that Kaiser Chiefs' song on a loop in my head, "Everyday I love you less and less....")
Lovely writing as always Joe. Excited to dig into the world of Spitball! I once had a baseball-themed song of mine reviewed in a magazine called Zisk, dedicated to all things Richie Zisk. definitely a high point in my career! Also, might i suggest a bipartisan Rover position that effectively plays for both teams, and attempts to disrupt all balls in play, dressed perhaps in a white tuxedo or some such.
I have a couple of proposals for readers to consider:
1. Take the money you’d normally spend on MLB this summer and do two things. One, buy a subscription to Spitball. A lifetime is only $125, less than a box seat for one game at Fenway.
2. With the balance of that cash, support a local minor league or independent league team.
3. Is there any chance us fans could start a movement and boycott all things MLB until say July 4th? If the strike drags longer than that, keep pushing back the boycott date. Don’t buy anything. No tickets, no jerseys, no TV subscriptions. Nothing. Make the owners hurt a little.
Thanks Joe. As you get older, your attitude reminds me more of Buck all the time. You turned my focus from why I am disgusted with baseball to why I love it. (For today, at least).
I've been a regular listener to the podcast, but can't say I remember all of them, so you may have addressed this before, but could you draft best baseball books sometime? Possibly a few drafts: fiction / non-fiction team / autobiography / biography / era? Would enjoy having y'all's take on the books.
EXACTLY!!!!!! There is so much right about what you said about Mike Shannon's love of the game and so much wrong about MLB not acknowledging and supporting Mike Shannon. The Casey Award should be given at the Hall of Fame! Congratulations of winning it again!
My comment on the lockout and teams complaining about being in a ‘small market’.
here is some context for the owners who whine about being in a ‘small marketa’
Melbourne is a city of 4.5 million ppl (about the size of Boston)
Here are it’s professional sports teams (with nowhere near the TV money that US sports get)
9 * AFL Teams
1 * Rugby Team
1 * Rugby League Team
2 * T20 cricket franchises
2 * NBL (basketball) teams
3 * Soccer Teams
2 * Netball teams (women’s sport)
For all those other sports mentioned, women’s teams, pro or semi-pro for basically all those clubs
PLUS
An F1 Grand Prix
A MotoGP Grand Prix
Spring Carnival Horse racing (many races drawing 100k+ spectators to the track)
A Grand Slam Tennis tournament
3 *, V8 races (stock cars)
Boxing Day Test Match (cricket), 90,000+ guaranteed crowd on Boxing Day
And any other international sport, like Aussie Soccer national team or Rugby teams they can get their hands on
So no, a small market isn’t an excuse for a one Team town not to be profitable, it’s incompetent ownership failing to engage with their community
Great article, Joe, and I'll bet Spitball's readership is going to skyrocket. Mike and Jim may need to get some help. Years ago, I subscribed to a similar publication, Elysian Fields Quarterly, that was very well done. I think they stopped publishing over 10 years ago.
Thanks for introducing Spitball to a "wider" audience. I am looking to subscribe.
MLB would offer $10 to support Spitball only if Mike cleaned and shined Rob Manfred’s shoes once a week. For life. That’s how they negotiate.
Thanks Joe for the article. I use to have a subscription to Spitball. I let it expire and forgot the magazine name. But I sent off my money today. This article for me makes your fee double in value!
Looking at the Spitball website, they have a list of previous award winners, some of them being books that I was unaware existed. My reading list will now include the ones I have not read.
I think the worst thing about the strike isn't that everyone's really mad. It's that people are caring less and less about it every day. There's never any real progress, and let's face it, a few million dollars increase in the salary cap by the owners isn't real progress. So this is going to go on until they kill a lot of the season. I was once privvy to the inside game of a union negotiation (I was there as a vendor, and the execs were just openly bragging about what they were doing, for no reason). The executives were willing to SPEND MONEY, cost themselves millions of dollars, just to screw the union and spite the union leadership. They were happy, even jovial about it, even though they were losing even worse by doing what they were doing. These negotiations are often more about hatred and sticking it to one another than actually making a deal. If you think about this "negotiation" in that way, it makes a lot more sense. Neither side is really going for a fair deal. Those reporting it that way are missing the point.
False equivalency is a big problem here. The owners picked the fight. The owners have cheated and colluded in the past. The owners delayed responding to offers. The owners have not negotiated in good faith. The players offered to play under the current outdated and one-sided (in favor of the owners) deal and the owners locked them out.
I do totally agree about union negotiations. The players need more hard nosed professionals. Bring in Boras.
Rob Smith. I enjoyed reading your post. You’ve been exposed to some Union negotiations. Yet your very first sentence refers to “the strike”. There is no strike, has never been a threat of a strike. It is a LOCKOUT, but the owners really want John Q Public to think it is a strike, thus being the players fault. I’m assuming you’ve read some of Joe’s thoughts on the labor negotiations. Not once has he- or anybody in the comments- referred to this as a strike. Shows how owners can twist the story to their advantage. I don’t mean to pick on you but it is a bit sad.
And I don’t get your “neither side is trying for a fair deal.” I couldn’t disagree more.
This. It's not that I'm angry (I am) or vowing to never watch another game (I'm not) it's just that ....I don't care. And that hurts my soul. (.....and puts that Kaiser Chiefs' song on a loop in my head, "Everyday I love you less and less....")
Thanks for bringing Spitball to my attention, Joe! It sounds really cool.
Lovely writing as always Joe. Excited to dig into the world of Spitball! I once had a baseball-themed song of mine reviewed in a magazine called Zisk, dedicated to all things Richie Zisk. definitely a high point in my career! Also, might i suggest a bipartisan Rover position that effectively plays for both teams, and attempts to disrupt all balls in play, dressed perhaps in a white tuxedo or some such.
Monty Python baseball!! Brilliant! 😂
I have a couple of proposals for readers to consider:
1. Take the money you’d normally spend on MLB this summer and do two things. One, buy a subscription to Spitball. A lifetime is only $125, less than a box seat for one game at Fenway.
2. With the balance of that cash, support a local minor league or independent league team.
3. Is there any chance us fans could start a movement and boycott all things MLB until say July 4th? If the strike drags longer than that, keep pushing back the boycott date. Don’t buy anything. No tickets, no jerseys, no TV subscriptions. Nothing. Make the owners hurt a little.
Go out and watch your local college team this season, or high school. And buy a few items while you're there.
Not to nit pick, but it's a lockout, not a strike.
count me in, I was going to boycot the opening 2 series that might really be cancelled for real this time really, but challenge accepted.
That is a great idea, and I am onboard with it!
Thanks Joe. As you get older, your attitude reminds me more of Buck all the time. You turned my focus from why I am disgusted with baseball to why I love it. (For today, at least).
I've been a regular listener to the podcast, but can't say I remember all of them, so you may have addressed this before, but could you draft best baseball books sometime? Possibly a few drafts: fiction / non-fiction team / autobiography / biography / era? Would enjoy having y'all's take on the books.
Beautiful and powerful as always, Joe. Thank you. Your personal human stories are the BEST.
I regret not going. But, to give the venue a proper shout-out, it was held at Poor Michael's. Watching too many episodes of The Office, I guess.
“Will they expand the playoffs to 32 teams — all 30 major league teams, and then two all-star teams put together by Draft Kings and Crypto?”
Don’t give them any ideas, Joe! Manfred is probably making this proposal right now. Seriously, though, thanks for the heart warming piece today.