About the Author
Mike Frangione has engaged himself in the noble calling of sportswriting over the years (1991-1997, and again in 2007), enjoying two stints covering (stringing) High School sports for my local newspaper in South Jersey. That was a great learning experience and also a great deal of fun.More By Sj-hypocycloid
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An Open Letter To Bud Selig...Or Whoever Is Really In Charge Of MLB
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Seeing that there was no shortage of groans and grumbles related to MLB's marketing effort that sent the Red Sox and A's off to Japan to play two regular season games with two weeks left in spring training, I decided to figure out a solution.
And here it is:
The next time MLB schedules a game in another country...make it the All-Star game. This, in my humble opionion, is the best of many worlds. Hear me out.
Here are the pros:
- In theory, we are then sending the two very best teams off to another country to do battle (assuming we believe fans know what they are talking about)
- The host country would not be subject to a meaningless game. The game counts, right?
- I think Japanese fans would have loved to have seen a home run derby and the other assorted events
- The MLB season already has days off planned around the All-Star game, so the inconvenience would be minimized
- It's a revenue sharing win-win. All teams could benefit if greed wouldn't kibosh the whole thing (yeah, I know). Since at least one representative from each team must be involved in the game, all teams would get exposure.
- Boston and Oakland (or whatever teams would be victimized by this capricious event) would not have been squeezed into losing almost two weeks of spring training
The only con I can think of is that owners would bitch about lost revenue based on events around the All-Star game events. But I think that MLB would make a mint from sending the game overseas, so the money could be made up in some way.
I don't think my suggestion is any worse than what Selig & Co. came up with. Kelsdad, Manny, AGM assembled - the floor is yours. What are the cons I am not thinking of?
I think this is a great idea. Much better than having the home team for the World Series hinge on an exhibition game that doesn't affect the standings. Mr. Selig, if you like the idea, contact me and we can discuss a consulting fee. I think 10 percent of $15.05 million would be sufficient.
