This letter is but one fan’s offering to the baseball decision-makers, the owners of MLB, and the MLBPA. I understand that ground that must be covered for there to be a season in 2020. Likewise, I know that this negotiation isn’t merely about the 2020 season, but it’s also about the upcoming CBA negotiations after 2021. We’ve already penned a piece, “Will There be Baseball in 2020?” So now the onus falls on you, decision-makers, to make things right.
Baseball Isn’t About the Money.
Some of you (owners/player’s association) may disagree with this premise because money makes the world go ’round. However, for us, the fans that pay to see your team’s play, it’s not about your money. Fans aren’t paid to go to games; it’s quite the opposite. We spend a lot of hard-earned money to see your teams on the field. But we hundred-aires don’t seem to matter when millionaires fight with billionaires. Baseball has dealt with labor wars before and barely survived. And that was at a time when the game was more beloved.
Baseball Is About the Passion
Now, however, your game is struggling to appeal to a younger generation—a generation whose attention spans are less than that of a fly. Baseball is a game played with the heart of a child, and that’s where you are losing fans. Baseball is a business, and we understand that. However, for fans, it’s about passion. It’s the game we love. We stay up late watching an extra-innings affair when work is just a few short hours away. We go to games when it’s still blistering cold or blazing hot. Baseball is about the passion, that childlike love that keeps us close.
It’s Time to Step Up
So decision-makers it’s time to step up and do the right thing. Don’t worry about lining your pockets that will happen all the same. Give us baseball, and you will reap the rewards. It’s time that owners and players get back to basics and learn to share the responsibility. You both must compromise to bring the game back in 2020. Because it’s not about you, the great game of baseball is an escape needed in 2020.
