The New York Yanktons

Baseball is good, but is it precious? Certainly the Yankees didn't anticipate that a large number of Wall Streeters wouldn't have enough disposable cash to drop a few G's to see them slug or be drubbed on a regular basis. That center field camera shot of empty seats is more than an embarrassment. It's loss.

Baseball has the longest season in major professional sports, unless you figure in tennis, which just crosses the equator and keeps going. Soccer too, I suppose. Regardless, Off base thinks we'll see a contraction of salaries soon, and hopefully ticked prices as well. The physical infrastructure has become a problem to teams.

Many great ballparks have been built over the past few decades and the public has largely shared in the cost. It's doubly  a bite in the ass for fans to shell out  such a chunk of cash for attending a game. American League teams have been inflating gate prices when the Yanktons are in town. Your correspondent thinks this is not in keeping with the ethics of baseball, no matter how rosy or dark the socks may be.

Sport is entertainment, and entertainment is a luxury. As a fan, my $1.50 admission to a game between Oaxaca and Veracruz close inside 1st base was just as entertaining and significant as the A's beating the crap out of the Yanktons for $14, home plate advantage.