The amazing ability of Major League Baseball to #### on its own shoes seems limitless. The organization that has seen its total revenues jump by a whopping 100% since 2000, reaching the staggering total of $6.075 billion for fiscal year 2007 (That's right, that's billion with a "B"), tried Wednesday to strong-arm some of its lowest-paid employees into making a company-mandated business trip without compensating them.
The season-opening two game series between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics in Japan next Tuesday and Wednesday almost didn't get off the ground, literally, as the Red Sox players refused to board a bus to the airport for their trip to the Far East until the issue of pay for the team's coaches and staff was ironed out to their satisfaction.
Incredibly, the $40,000 stipend which was promised the players as compensation for making the trip was never promised to the coaching staff, including manager Terry Francona. Considering Tokyo is known as one of the most expensive cities in the world, especially for visitors, the notion that MLB thought it would be acceptable to send their employees on a 7,360-mile business trip without giving them any sort of travel money is ludicrous.
You want a Domino's Pizza in Tokyo with italian sausage and mushrooms? You can get it, provided you're willing to spend $30.39. Of course, according to pricechecktokyo.com, that is what the average Tokyo-ite (Tokyo-er?) can expect to spend. Prices "for American and European expatriates are usually higher." How does fifty bucks sound? Maybe you'd like to see a movie after you chow down on your pizza - plan on spending $18.21 per ticket at the door.
You get the point, right? It's going to be expensive for these people to make this trip which has been mandated by their bosses, one of whom is Bud Selig, the man making over $15 million this year; the man who has a private jet at his disposal for all that important commissioner travel which is so critical he can't fly commercial.
How much does a batting coach make, does anybody know? I researched it but couldn't find the answer anywhere. You can bet it's less than the major league minimum salary of $390,000, undoubtedly a lot less. And yet Dave Magadan, Boston's batting coach, was expected by Bud Selig and his bunch of cold-hearted cronies to foot the bill for his living expenses in a league-mandated trip to one of the most expensive cities in the world.
The reaction of the commissioner to all this? According to a quote attributed by the Associated Press to Boston Manager Terry Francona, "Mr. Selig was justifiably concerned about playing the game." He wasn't talking about the game next week in Tokyo. The thing that had the commissioner's panties in a #### was the exhibition game that the Red Sox players refused to take the field for Wednesday until the issue was resolved.
That quote by Francona is what is known as not biting the hand that feeds you. "Justifiably concerned," that's a good one. Francona might as well have come right out and admitted it - as a low-level member of MLB's management team, you never know what the upper-level geniuses are going to do next. Better not make them too angry, or else you might find yourself looking for work.
Does Bud Selig have pictures of all of MLB's owners engaging in unnatural acts with farm animals? Is that possible?
The man who has presided over what will be known forevermore as the "Steroids Era" in baseball, complete with broken and now bogus power records, and disgusted fans unable to differentiate great performance from juiced performance, received an unbelievable $15.06 million salary in the fiscal year ending October 31, 2006!
Ironically, this is almost exactly the same amount of money Barry Bonds earned in 2007, although the thorn in Selig's side did earn quite a bit more than Buddy Boy did in 2006.
According to the Business Journal of Milwaukee, the commissioner of baseball made just slightly more in 2006 than in the previous year, although he topped $15 million in that year as well. Selig's annual salary is an astounding 34% higher than NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's $11.2 million, and poor Gary Bettman of the NHL had to scrape by on only $5.9 million in 2006.
Surprised? Did you expect the commissioner to suffer a pay cut or perhaps even lose his job over the steroids and HGH scandal baseball is currently embroiled in? Just in case there was any doubt in your mind as to what is important to Selig's bosses - the owners of the 30 Major League Baseball teams - the Business Journal article makes it crystal clear: "given the league's recent economic growth and that Selig had to be persuaded out of long-held retirement plans, it is believed the [contract] extension calls for further pay hikes."
In other words, Bud Selig was prepared to retire, probably in shame over his complicity in the "Steroids Era," but was talked out of it by the owners. Why? Because they are making so much money under Bumbling Bud's outstanding leadership that they are afraid to install any other puppet, uh, excuse me, person, into the commissioner's office.
The most unbelievable part, of course, is the comment that "it is believed the extension calls for further pay hikes." Pay hikes? Whatever happened to the apparently old-fashioned notion that the guy at the top of the organization gets held accountable for the organization's performance, not just on the bottom line but as far as its public image is concerned as well?
How much will Selig make this year? $18 million? $20 million? The numbers are staggering when you realize he doesn't throw a pitch or hit a ball, but when you consider the black eye baseball has suffered under Selig's watch, you realize the only thing that matters to MLB's owners is the bottom line. Nothing else. It's disgusting and wrong.
Hey everyone, I know it must seem like I've dropped off the face of the earth, but it's nothing like that.
I've been busy writing - two full-length novels so far, plus over a dozen short stories - and working hard to try to get an agent. If you are curious and have a few minutes, check out my website, www.allanleve rone.com.
If you're a literary agent or if you know one, by all means contact me! In the meantime, I'll be here when I can - love this forum - and as always, thank you for checking out my blog, especially considering how many great ones you could be reading instead....
