'Spos New Owners Should Steer Clear of Selig's Example

Even though Commissioner Bud Selig and his minions have pushed back the deadline for picking a new home for the Montreal Expos, again, the new site will either be in Northern Virginia or D.C. according to the June 23-29 issue of Sports Weekly. But before we all get caught up in the euphoric celebration of having a professional baseball team on our doorstep, we should realize that getting a franchise and building a multi-hundred million dollar stadium is just the beginning.

Tuesday, the Washington Post wrapped up a very comprehensive and at times scathing three-part series on the business side of Major League Baseball. The series should be mandatory reading for any ownership group bidding on the Expos, and whoever the future owners turn out to be, they would do well to remember that there’s more to a franchise than a flashy new stadium.

In part one of the series, the Post recounts the creation of luxurious but scandal-shrouded Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wis., the new stadium for Selig’s own Brewers. Through pointed threats to relocate, various loopholes, assorted mirrors and a healthy infusion of smoke, the park was essentially built entirely from tax-payer money because the Brewers, for use of a simple term, were broke. According to the Post, the $90 million the Brewers were to contribute to the stadium consisted of the money from the stadium’s naming rights ($40 million) and the rest from a $50 million loan, which the Brewers are paying back with the annual $3.85 million received from taxpayers for stadium maintenance.

The government allowed this peculiar arrangement with the idea Selig and the Brewers would use the money they were saving to bring in top-tier free agents and make the team competitive again. This thinking proved naďve and two years after building the new ballpark, the Brewers had not only failed to bring any top-rated talent, they traded away their only legitimate All-Star in Richie Sexson for a handful of unimpressive players (at the time) from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The move enraged fans and lawmakers alike who trusted Selig to rejuvenate a dying franchise.

The parable of the Brewers is one that should be closely regarded by those seeking to bring a team to the D.C. area. For those who would ask us to support the Expos through taxes, tickets or outrageous concession prices, they also need to invest in the team, rather than simply profit from it. Otherwise they run the risk of burning the same bridges Selig did. And they won’t have the powers of the Office of the Commissioner to counteract such a faux pas.

Like the Brewers, the Expos are currently a sorry franchise, both financially and statistically, and have been forced to dump their top players for the past, oh, 10 seasons due to financial constraints. Most recently they lost slugger Vladimir Guerrero to free agency, getting nothing in return for a player who is arguably the American League MVP so far this season. But the Expos are not devoid of talent.

Jose Vidro, despite a sub-par season thus far, is one of the premier second basemen in the game. Orlando Cabrera has often been compared to Derek Jeter statistically. Termel Sledge, in addition to having the coolest name in the Expos organization, is one of baseball’s top prospects. Zach Day is evolving into a fine young pitcher. And don’t forget about on-base-machine Nick Johnson, acquired last season from the Yankees, at first base.

The crops are not bare. The soil isn’t salted. There is hope. But it will require some investment, beyond a new stadium, to get the Expos back in contention in the National League. Without it, the Expos will remain mediocre, or worse, and fans and other residents affected by the tax increase will find it all too easy to label the owners with treacherous adjectives hurled at Selig in Milwaukee.

I trust the future owners of the Expos, whoever they are, will make the right decision.

Oh, Barry

Barry Bonds needs to realize that the reason no one reveres him as they revered Babe Ruth, and didn’t follow his single-season home run record with as much enthusiasm as Mark McGwire’s run isn’t because he’s black, but because he’s a moron. A prejudiced moron at that.

According to Sports Weekly, last week a reporter from the Boston Globe asked Bonds if “he thought he’d ever have anything named after him akin to the Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston.” Bonds responded, saying “Nothing man. I’m black. They don’t build stuff for blacks.” Of course, this bold proclamation comes from the dressing room of SBC Park located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza in San Francisco, adjacent to McCovey Cove, named after former Giants great, and African-American, Willie McCovey. Sports Weekly also points out San Francisco has also honored McCovey with at park at McCovey Point at China Basin and that large bronze statues of both Mays and McCovey can be found at both the ballpark and the point respectively.

I also find it ironic that someone who would ask us to not prejudge him on his alleged steroid use or undermine his achievements due to his race would in turn issue a statement saying that Boston was “too racist” despite having never been there.

This is why Bonds is less renowned as a great Major League Baseball player, and more in line with the type of “Major Leaguer” President Bush once labeled a New York Times writer. Big time.