Tradition Needs a Change/ Cultural Review

The streets show signs of confetti from the New York Yankee championship parade. A reminder to all of the tradition of a franchise, but more importantly a team whose championshiprings should stand as a reminder to us all of whats wrong with baseball.

This year the World Series was much more than a best of seven game series to determine the world champions, it was an outcry; a plea , to Bud Selig for him to establish a firm salary cap within baseball. This off season the Yankees went into free agency as they often do, looking to land the biggest name free agent and bolster their roster to amongst the best in the league. Unlike in previous years though, other teams upped the ante of their offers and made a play for prospects the Yankees had their eyes on. In a perfect world this would create an even distribution of talent and parody throughtout the league. Instead though the Yankees simply dug deep into the seemingly bottomless pockets of owner George Steinbrenner and dealt out offers no one could match.
In the midst of what some are considering an economic depression, for the Yankees to go out and spend$400 Million dollars on three players is unheard of, even for them. In a sport where left handed slugger Manny Ramirez struggled to ink a one-year contract and number one overall pick Steven Strausberg barely comes to an agreement on his rookie contract, Bud Selig needs to step in and stop this kind of reckless spending. The Toronto Blue Jay, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, and Washington Nationals have all failed to make the playoffs for at least fifteen consecutive seasons. Not for a lacking of trying but instead because they simply cannot afford to spend like the big teams do and fill in the gaps on their roster with big name free agents. New York is not the only team to go out and throw large amounts of money at free agents, they are simply the one with the most money spend, creating a terribly uneven playing field. As evident in the World Series, where half the Yankees starting rotation was a product of baseball having no salary cap.
The World Series has gone through this before, in 2003 when the Florida Marlins won the World Series by signing quick fix big name free agents and then promptly traded or released the majority after the season. No one was going to call for change though as a result of what the Marlins did, over the span of a decade people could care less about the Marlins. The Yankees on the other hand, they are a household name that people across the world have come to associate with baseball and will be given immediate notice. The kind which should be used to show people that this year's World Series was a symbol for what needs to be changed in baseball, how the culture of baseball is failing to adjust and needs to if they wish to stay in contention with the NFL in the race for popularity amongst sports fans.
The NFL has shared revenue amongst all its owners and a firm salary cap that keeps teams in bigger markets from spending ridiculous amounts of money on free agents. For fans of those smaller market teams, it is difficult for them to get excited about the coming year knowing that the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets are all going to go out and spend as much money as they need to in order to field a competitive team. As the commissioner of major league baseball Bud Selig should open his eyes and realize that not all fans are willing to come back year after year to support a team that is not even given a fighting chance. After this World Series major league baseball needs to take a good long look in the mirror and decide if they want to a league that allows the biggest teams to buy their way to a championship or one where money is equally divided and parody is welcome with open arms.