What is it with those bozos in Annapolis? They can't be serious. As if there isn't enough to worry about in this state with the decay of public education, rampant crime, high taxes, fleeing business, a crumbling infrastructure and a shocking cancer rate, some of our legislators are spending (wasting) their time contemplating the ills of baseball.
One would think the less-than-cordial reception President Clinton received when he stuck his nose into the game's strife would have taught Maryland's elected representatives to cool it. The U.S. Congress backed off quicker than it usually takes to approve a motion to adjourn.
While few can make a case for the ethical conduct of management throughout its dealings with the players, not only lately but going back about 125 years, fact is the owners rarely do anything blatantly illegal. When they do, as was the case in a couple of collusion deals, they have paid until their ledgers ran red.
Baseball was well within its rights to slap its will upon the players, even if you question how serious they were about negotiating in good faith, because it was written into a previous contract with the association/union.
What was management to do with the puppet players still refusing to show up at the start of spring training but hustle out and fill the uniforms with other bodies? After all, the owners want to carry on the tradition of this great game, too (snicker).
No matter how you stand on the idea of replacement players, management certainly isn't ecstatic being forced to pass off the Kevin Hickeys of the world as the genuine article. But what recourse do they have? Hasn't the Don Fehr juggernaut, which is second to none when it comes to intractability, forced this action?
So now comes our guys down the state house cluttering up the hopper with bills that would be laughable if the action suggested and the time spent wasn't so misplaced.
Senate Bill 719 would prohibit games being played on the hallowed lawns of Camden Yards unless at least 75 percent of the players were on major-league rosters in 1994. Beautiful. Say somehow the season is under way and the game, such as it turns out to be, is being conducted everywhere else but downtown? What gives, Memorial Stadium, or does Peter Angelos' team became not-so-accidental tourists?
Oh, by the way, this bill together with SB718, is being sponsored by Sen. John Pica (D-Baltimore), an associate in the law offices of Angelos. Some might suggest there's at least a hint of impropriety involved here but, in reality, it's little more than politics as usual.
Pica's other bill (718) suggests that any advertising referring to replacement teams playing ball here as "major league baseball" be prohibited.
Not satisfied with telling a private business how it should conduct its affairs, the good senator strikes out to put the advertising industry in order.
Hey, you mean that just about every movie produced isn't "extraordinary," or that claims that all food is "delicious" and "nutritious" aren't necessarily completely true statements of fact? Shocking.
Disturbing is the fact that both bills were approved by large margins (9-2) by the Finance Committee and are expected to fly through the full Senate later on. "The main purpose [of the bills] is to protect the state's investment," said Pica. "We should not countenance delivering a sloppy product to the people of this state."
How about sloppy legislation?
So what happens in a couple of years when baseball expands again and the Phoenix Phoenixes move in for a four-game set? It's probably a good thing the bill writer never saw a game as interpreted by the 1962 New York Mets, he might not be so hung up on the term "major-league baseball."
The Associated Press reported that supporters of the bill in private said they wanted to protect Peter Angelos, who has pointedly said he will not allow strikebreakers to wear the Orioles uniform. According to threats made by baseball, the O's owner could end up being fined for not going along with his lodge brothers or even lose the franchise (a huge stretch). Does Pica's association with Angelos smack of something here?
Taking sides in any dispute you really have no part in is risky, especially so if you attempt to legitimatize your unrequested two cents worth. The legislators should have learned from the Baltimore City Councilmen who blundered forth previously.