Twenty Thousand Dollars not to Play?
The Red Sox are on strike. Or, were on strike. In fact, strike that. Everything’s been set right. Let’s fly to Japan to celebrate!
Baseball strikes are ugly. In 1994, they wiped out the end of the season and eliminated the playoffs. Many people think it caused irreparable damage to fan relations. In Montreal especially the dissatisfaction was noticeable as, following the strike, the Expos suffered through years of dismal attendance only to be sent packing for Puerto Rico and then Washington D.C.
But today a strike was a cause for celebration. The Red Sox and A’s are scheduled to play their first games of the regular season in Japan on March 25 and 26. For the disruption, Major League Baseball had agreed to pay each of the players an extra $40,000. But players were upset to learn that their coaches weren’t going to be given the same bonus. So they went on strike, refusing to take the field for their final spring training game in sunny Florida and threatening not to board a plane to The Land of the Rising Sun today.
The standoff lasted about an hour when MLB caved to player demands and agreed to pay the members of the coaching staffs $20,000 each. The Red Sox organization will supply the other half of the money to its coaches.
This is a feel-good story about overpaid athletes standing up for not-as-overpaid coaches. I guess these professionals are probably getting by just fine without an extra $20,000 but they are part of the baseball team and should be treated with respect by everyone, especially the sport’s central administration. To do otherwise for less than $500,000 (about what it would have cost to put up the 40 grand for each coach) is a foolish decision.
The lesson here is that teamwork gets things done. And it’s a good sign for the Red Sox that their players care so much about the coaching staff. This is a talented and unified club. That will be a difficult combination to beat this year.
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