A rare Pirate party (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The end of the regular season is upon us and teams will show their appreciation this weekend for you watching, in most cases, a sub-par product at overinflated prices with a few token giveaways.
Most teams will give a couple of trade-offs to a couple of fans and we are all supposed to take that as a sign of appreciation?
How about really show some appreciation to the faithful who have supported you in a dismal economy? How about the club help pick up the tab for dinner or lunch, depending on when the game is? Give 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 hot dogs and hamburgers. Give free sodas with any food purchase. Work up a family pack, where families can get four burgers, an order of nachos and four sodas for $20. Maybe a day where you break even at the food stands instead of soaring profits. Give free parking.
That would be a sign of appreciation. Not some casino prize pack in which one fan will win a couple of bonuses on his way to an evening of lost wages and the rest of the crowd will get nothing.
The Cincinnati Reds are touting lunchmeat vouchers as one of their prizes for Sunday in their epic battle against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Really? Fans watching these two franchises going nowhere fast get a chance at a pack of balogna? You're all heart.
Reds' Joey Votto (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
It just shows how out of touch baseball's management is with the common fan. Even if a fan gets tickets from a friend or his company, he will still drop close to $100 on parking and food for a family of four to attend a ballgame.
But wait, I have a chance to get a pack of lunchmeat on the last day? Add more ticket agents and security, they are going to be busting down the doors to get in.
Even with management's lame show of appreciation in most Major League teams' case, fans will still show up because they love the game, and always will.
Fans in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and other cities would be glad to forego Appreciation Days entirely for the sake of putting a competitive team on the field. Put the token couple of thousands thrown at pacifying the common man and use it for creating a more equitable free agency system. Baseball needs to figure out a way that smaller-market teams can be competitive.
Fans love the game, but they have a right to have a true team to cheer for when they attend a ballgame. People in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Seattle, and other smaller markets deserve to see playoff baseball. And not just on TV. In their own stadiums.
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KC huddle (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
When the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox can basically buy their way into the playoffs, something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong. While the Chicago Cubs are proof that high payrolls don't guarantee success, it is hard to imagine the Cubs finishing behind the Pirates anytime soon.
Minnesota bucks the small-market malaise almost every year and puts a competitive team on the field. But their amazing farm system has more to do with that than any free agency equity.
If baseball truly appreciates its fans, then leaders need to take some action. Give smaller-market fans some hope.
Give them a contender, not just a lot of baloney.
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