Professional Sports - Free Agency is Causing the Slow Death of Baseball

1657 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Baseball culture in the US

Free Agency is Causing the Slow Death of Baseball

What ever happened to the old days? This is a comment that my Dad and Grandpa are always saying when it comes to major league baseball in this era. Like clockwork, at the beginning of every baseball season my Dad says, "Every year my team has all new faces. How am I supposed to root for this team if I don't even know who is playing for them." Now, more than ever, this comment is true. It is true because of free agency in baseball. Free agency is destroying the fabric of the baseball blanket in America. This is the same blanket that many of us sports fans have grown up with and have drawn accustomed too. Baseball is our national pastime. If something is not done to change free agency in baseball it may not remain our national heritage in the future. Baseball is the sport that every kid growing up has a dream to play. These same kids also look at major league baseball players as their role models. If free agency runs the same course that it has been running it will destroy baseball. If nothing is done to change free agency all that we, as baseball fans, will remember baseball as is a pastime.

According to Rick Reilly, a freelance writer for sports magazines, free agency (which he broadly defines as an athlete's ability to offer his services on the open market to the highest bidder,) is a threat to baseball (108). However, free agency does have a few restrictions that do not allow just any player to file for it. A player with zero to three years of experience must negotiate his salary with club management; a player with more than three but less than six full years in the majors has an option of submitting a salary dispute to an independent arbitrator; and a player with si...

... middle of paper ...

...blanket that fans of the sport have become attached to like a security blanket. What free agency is doing to baseball should not be tolerated by us, the fans. It should not even be tolerated by anyone associated with the sport. Free agency it could end up destroying the future thoughts and dreams of baseball fans yet to come. If something is not done to free agency in baseball, which is considered our national pastime, will not be considered that by future generations to come.

Works Cited

Gelin, Dana. " Fish Tale." Sports Illustrate Commemorative Issue 1997: 28- 30.

Kurkjian, Tim. "Blueprint For Success." Sports Illustrated Commemorative Issue 1997: 16-19.

Reilly, Rick. "Fishing For Marlin Fans." Sports Illustrated March 9, 1998: 108

Worsnop, Richard L. "Pro Sports Big Challenge." Editorial Research Reports 9 Feb. 1990, Vol. 1, No. 6, pp. 82-94

Show More
Related

  • Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    To fully understand this book, people must go behind the book and find the true state of mind of the author. Unfortunately in this case, the author is the one and only Jose Canseco. Jose Canseco is what I like to call, “The black sheep in the family of baseball.” Canseco’s history can be related to such incidents of drug using, heavy drinking, numerous sexual encounters with hundreds of partners, and unreasonable acts of violence. This book goes into grave detail on how steroids have changed his life and how it is currently changing baseball.

    Read More

  • Criteria for MLB Expansion Cities

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...t pool is not adequate to call up enough players to fill two new expansion teams, while maintaining the same level of play in all facets of the game. “The influx of inferior talent filling those new roster spots fundamentally altered the competitive environment: it allowed elite players, especially hitters, to excel” (Bradbury). Up to this point in time, the major league of baseball continued to populate the league with better-quality baseball players through the exploitation of rapid population growth, and racial integration. However, this growth trend was reversed through the implementation of expansion in 1990s. By filling the expansion teams with subpar talent in juxtaposition to the major leagues’ talent level, the dilution of player quality was felt throughout the entire league and throughout all phases of the game including, pitching, hitting, and defense.

    Read More

  • Anabolic Steroids are Ruining Major League Baseball

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    Major League Baseball (MLB) has widely been regarded as America’s pastime for the longest time, however it is now becoming known as the sport tainted by one thing, anabolic steroids. An anabolic steroid is related to the natural steroid, testosterone. They are able to stimulate growth in the muscle tissue. They usually increase muscle mass and strength. The MLB has created some of the most historic American icons, such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Players like them showed us what it was like to play baseball the right way. They played with passion, heart, and above all they had fun playing. Players today in the MLB focus way too much on becoming the best player ever to play. They see what the greats did before them and they want to match them, so they turn to anabolic steroids. An example of this is Alex Rodriguez. In 2003 he tested positive for anabolic steroids because he was “naïve” and couldn’t take the pressure of his expectations of being called the best. He felt the pressure from the game and he turned to steroids. Anabolic steroids are ruining the game of baseball. They are tainting the records and the changing the game for the worse.

    Read More

  • Major League Baseball Needs a Salary Cap

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    A salary cap in pro sports is the amount of money every team in a league can spend on all of the players on its roster in one year. Major League Baseball does not have a salary cap. The reason for a salary cap is to keep teams competitive and not have just two or three outstanding teams that dominate everyone. Another reason leagues like the National Football League and the National Basketball Association have a salary cap is it is fair and gives teams an equal chance to get players which can make a large impact on their team by using their skill and experience. Salary caps also keep players from receiving contracts which give them an extremely large undeserved salary. This is why I am for a salary cap in Major League Baseball.

    Read More

  • Steroids in Baseball

    2573 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...sport continues to gain the reputation of a game of cheaters. Steroids are not fair to the players who worked hard everyday to achieve Hall of Fame status, without performance-enhancers. The MLB needs to eliminate drug use to regain the trust of the fans who love and respect the game. The game has seen a dirty past ten years and needs to reestablish their reputation as a fair league. Of course fans love watching their favorite player slug sixty plus homers in a season, but not if it is ultimately ruining the fairness of what was once a clean game. Selig needed to end the “Steroid Era” seven years earlier to save the reputations of Hall of Fame caliber players. Whose to know what steroid allegations will arise in the next few years to tarnish another all-star‘s shot at Cooperstown? Baseball will only regain its credibility when steroids are not present in any player.

    Read More

  • Changes in Baseball

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ercent grantees that the best teams will face off in the World Series. Baseball has been a game of adaptation, with the end of the dead ball era by putting cork in the ball, the games populatirty grew because the chance of home runs and harder hit balls made the game more entertaining and interactive. By adding steroid testing, the playing field has been leveled so that no one person has a distinct advantage over another. Both are examples of how the game has developed to benefit both the fans and to the players. The whole world is evolving into a time of equality and fairness and baseball is the last of the major sports in America to adapt this rule of reviewing plays that are controversial.

    Read More

  • The Salary Cap Should Be Abolished in Sports

    2015 Words  | 5 Pages

    When looking into the history of our culture, there are many subtopics that fall under the word, “history.” Topics such as arts and literature, food, and media fall into place. Among these topics reside sports. Since the beginning of time, sports have persisted as an activity intertwined with the daily life of people. Whether it is a pick-up game of football in the backyard, or catching an evening game at the local stadium, sports have become the national pastime. According to Marcus Jansen of the Sign Post, more specifically, baseball is America’s national pastime, competing with other sports (Jansen 1). Providing the entertainment that Americans pay top dollar for, live the role models, superstars, and celebrities that put on a jersey as their job. As said in an article by Lucas Reilly, Americans spend close to $25.4 billion dollars on professional sports (Reilly 4). The people that many children want to be when they grow up are not the firefighters or astronauts told about in bed time stories. These dream jobs or fantasies have become swinging a bat or tossing a football in front of millions of screaming fans. When asked why so many dream of having such job, the majority will respond with a salary related answer. In today’s day and age, the average athlete is paid more than our own president. The cold hard facts show that in professional sports, the circulation of money is endless. Certain teams in professional baseball and football are worth over millions of dollars. Consequently, the teams who are worth more are able to spend more. The issue that arises with this philosophy is virtually how much more? League managers, team owners and other sports officials have sought out a solution to the surfacing problem. Is it fair to let...

    Read More

  • The Argument for Paying NCAA Football Players

    2003 Words  | 5 Pages

    Luzer, Daniel. "College Guide: The Profit in College Sports." The Washington Monthly. N.p., 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Odysseus the Hero

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    The definition of a hero is unique for every individual; however there are several regulations that majority of individuals can agree on. A hero must exhibit traits such as humility, kindness, and courage. Once the candidate expresses hubris, displays cruelty, or retreats from a formidable challenge, he cannot be considered a hero. Lastly, a hero candidate must overcome challenges that defy the odds. He must deliver a gift to society that benefits society as a whole; such gifts can be freedom, liberty, or hope. Odysseus in The Odyssey, by Homer, fulfilled these requirements and rightfully earned the title of a hero. Odysseus is well deserving of the title hero because he has put the needs of others before his own, shown signs of courage in the face of adversity, and displays humility by ridding himself of his hubris.

    Read More

  • We Should Pay College Athletes

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ws. July 1, 1996: 38+. Sports. Eleanor Goldstein. Vol. 5. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1996. Art. 13.

    Read More

  • Transcendentalism

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    outside influences to mold his ideas. We currently live in a society in which a single clip

    Read More

  • Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?

    2054 Words  | 5 Pages

    The controversy of athletes being overpaid dates back to 1922, when well-known baseball player George “Babe” Ruth received $50,000 within the first year of his career. Ruth’s extensive wealth was bolstered by dozens of endorsements (Saperecom). As it is shown in figure 1, in the Fortunate 50 Tiger Woods takes the number one spot for highest paid athlete. Tiger’s salary for 2011 is $2,294,116 and like Babe Ruth, his endorsements exceed his salary earning $60,000,000 making his total $62,294,116 (Freedman). It’s crazy to think that 89 years ago professional athletes scarcely made more than the average person today. This is of course not counting the inflation that has occurred since the years which Babe Ruth played baseball.

    Read More

  • Candide: A Satire On The Enlightenment

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    Candide is an outlandishly humorous, far-fetched tale by Voltaire satirizing the optimism espoused by the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment. It is the story of a young man’s adventures throughout the world, where he witnesses much evil and disaster. Throughout his travels, he adheres to the teachings of his tutor, Pangloss, believing that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." Candide is Voltaire’s answer to what he saw as an absurd belief proposed by the Optimists - an easy way to rationalize evil and suffering. Though he was by no means a pessimist, Voltaire refused to believe that what happens is always for the best.The Age of Enlightenment is a term applied to a wide variety of ideas and advances in the fields of philosophy, science, and medicine. The primary feature of Enlightenment philosophy is the belief that people can actively work to create a better world. A spirit of social reform characterized the political ideology of Enlightenment philosophers. While Voltaire’s Candide is heavily characterized by the primary concerns of the Enlightenment, it also criticizes certain aspects of the movement. It attacks the idea that optimism, which holds that rational thought can inhibit the evils perpetrated by human beings.

    Read More

  • The History of Volleyball: William G. Morgan

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Web. Menke, Frank G. The Encyclopedia of Sports. South Brunswick and New York: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1987. Print.

    Read More

  • Free Definition Essays - A Baseball Fan

    470 Words  | 1 Pages

    Finally, baseball fans are insanely loyal to the team of their choice. Should the home team's players lose eight in a row, their fans may begin to call them "bums." They may even suggest that the slumping cleanup hitter be sent to the minors or the manager fired. However, such reactions only hide their broken hearts. They still check the sports pages and tune in to get the score. Furthermore, this intense loyalty can make fans dangerous, for anyone who dares to say to a loyal fan that some other team has sharper fielding or a better attitude could risk permanent, physical harm.

    Read More

More about Professional Sports - Free Agency is Causing the Slow Death of Baseball

Open Document