Inside the Strike Zone
CBN.com - President Bush is furious. ESPN Baseball analyst Peter Gammons voice is tinged with anger in interviews these days. But more importantly, Bob the construction worker is filled with rancor while standing in line for ballpark franks. Major League Baseball doesnt seem to care.
The Major League Baseball Players Association is poised to begin its ninth work stoppage since 1972 on tomorrow if they cannot broker a labor agreement with the owners. Its timing seems completely inappropriate considering it is scheduled in the shadows of Labor Day with the one-year anniversary of September 11th looming just behind it. Major League Baseball seems to have lost its grasp of reality.
At issue is the implementation of a team tax rate on team payrolls that would help control spiraling players salaries while redistributing funds from wealthy teams to those who have less revenue. In other words revenue sharing. On paper, it seems the move would help struggling small market teams like the Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, and Montreal Expos stay in business. Teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, who both have payrolls exceeding $100 million dollars, would be forced to pay a tax on that figure which would be divided equally between teams like the aforementioned Royals, Twins, and Expos. Seems fair enough. The maneuver would in essence help balance the playing field by affording these small market teams a better chance to sign higher priced free agents. Being able to sign better players means that some of these teams might have a better opportunity to compete for play-off spots on a more consistent basis.
Wrong! Foul ball. Stop the presses. The Players Association argues that this luxury tax, revenue sharing, or whatever you want to call it, would serve as nothing more than a salary cap. For those of you scoring at home, a salary cap means pretty much what it sounds like. Salaries would be capped meaning players like Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, and Manny Ramirez would no longer be able to break the bank for salaries topping the $20 million dollar mark. Owners would have to be more financially prudent realizing that if they pay a Rodriquez $25 million dollars per year they must be prepared to pay a luxury tax.
"Fortunately" (I use quotes due to the sarcasm that is about to ensue) the luxury tax seems to be the only real sticking point. Both the players association and ownership have agreed in principle on several other issues including drug testing, player benefits, deferred compensation, and a minimum player salary.
How much higher can the Major League minimum go when the average player on the lowly, bargain basement Tampa Bay Devil Rays earns $1.2 million?
Lets see, for the price of what the Devil Rays pay the average 23 year old player with little to no big league experience, I could pay a staff of 40 school teachers $30,000 dollars per year, fund a full scholarship to the average state university for 150 underprivileged youth, or better yet, tithe $120,000 to my local church.
While we are at it, lets figure out what we could do with the $145.26 (according to the most recent Team Marketing Report) an average family of four spends at one Major League baseball game. You could buy eight cubic yards of top soil for your lawn project. You could drive a replica stock car of your favorite NASCAR driver 29 times at the local go-cart park. You could rent "The Lord of the Rings" at your neighborhood video store and not worry about returning it for 73 days. You could purchase 2,900 pieces of penny candy which now costs 5 cents due to inflation. You could invest in roughly 50 shares of your favorite devalued Fortune 500 blue chip stock. The list goes on and on.
It is of little wonder fans have become completely infuriated with players and owners arguing over financial matters that most people can only dream of. Yet, we keep ponying up the cash to take the family to games. However, if my trip to a minor league ballpark recently is any indication, fans are disgusted and will not return if there is a players strike.
"I understand that a players career is very short in relation to mine but even in that five to ten year window they make more money than I will in three or four lifetimes," lamented Frank, a flooring contractor. "Even if the owners are shortchanging them on money it still seems better than what 99 percent of the rest of us make. I just cant have any sympathy for them."
"If they go on strike again I just cant justify coming back," echoed Mike, who is a social worker. "They (the players and owners) just dont seem to understand that there are people out there like me who have no grasp of what it would be like to make even half that money. They are out of touch. They are in fantasyland."
These sentiments seem to be a microcosm for what the nation is thinking as this latest walkout looms less than 24 hours away. As I stood listening to Frank and Mike the other night an incredibly valid question considering the circumstances kept popping into my head. That is, is it a sin to be wealthy?
We hear so much about how greed infiltrates and can corrupt an innocent persons life but we also are privy to all of the wonderful stories of wealthy athletes giving back in some fashion to help society. The stories are endless. Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez has solely funded the construction of a church and two schools in his native Dominican Republic. Former NBA star and recent 700 Club guest Manute Bol has spent millions of dollars trying to bring peace to his native country of war torn Sudan.
I guess it comes down to how the money uses you and how you use the money. For many people, money becomes a god to serve, or a form of worship. Money becomes evil when it begins to control how you conduct your life. How it interferes with your ability or how you worship God. How it controls the amount of time you are able to give serving the Lord.
In
it says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.A word that I would like to key in on for a moment is love. This passage of scripture does not mention the like of money but love of money. If you are to like some sort of activity but do not love it, you do not possess the unrequited passion it requires. But if you love something, you are willing to forsake or sacrifice just about anything to satisfy your feelings. Money in itself is not evil, but the love of money is.
We need to look no further than these contract negotiations between players and owners to realize that money is truly the root of all evil. Remove all money-related items from these contract talks and we wouldnt have much of a problem would we?
While money and wealth have certainly stood in the way of the progression of man at times it has also helped in some cases. I am sure you probably know of many wealthy people who are committed to serving God through the use of money. We need to look no further than the Old Testament where we find the likes of Abraham, Joseph, and Lydia. My personal walk of faith was galvanized by a high school youth pastor whose position was solely funded by a wealthy entreprenuer who attended our church.
Yes, being wealthy can be a sin, but it also can be a blessing. The key is to bless God by sharing this wealth. If God has blessed you financially do not succumb to the quest of living for the almighty dollar but ask Him how this wealth can best be utilized to serve His kingdom.
If you do find yourself living for the almighty dollar pray that God will show you the needs of others such as the homeless, underprivileged children, and Christian brothers and sisters who need help. For it is better to give than to receive.
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