By Chris Cue
February 19, 2009

    2 articles in today’s Boston Herald perked my interest. The first was a story recapping comments made yesterday by Red Sox ownership regarding a salary cap. The article written by John Tomase “Owners try on Cap” is HERE. In that piece, John Henry and Larry Lucchino suggest that a “Enlightened form of a salary cap” or “Payroll Zone” might be worth persuing. There have been several different takes on what ownership is actually saying with that. You can read comments that vary from “The Red Sox are jealous of what the Yankees have spent” to “They are just looking at putting more money in their own pockets“. I’m not quite sure where the Sox owners are coming from with this kind of talk. I think if you step back a second and look at what the ramifications might be if a salary cap is implemented, you may not like what you see.

     If the Yankees are limited to spending….let’s say, 150 million on their team per year, what do you think they would do with the extra 80+ million they would save in payroll? Put it in their pockets and go whistling away? I seriously doubt that either the Yankees or Red Sox ownership would do that. What you might end up seeing is teams flush with money to spend taking a new approach to the draft process. I’m not sure that any team that looks to the draft to build their team wants to see the Yankees enter that arena with 85 million to spend. It seems to me, that might just bite some teams in the rear end. No, I think letting the Yankees, Red Sox or any team spend what they want is the way to go. Afterall, Larry Lucchino said it himself yesterday…”There’s an old adage that there are three things money can’t buy: love, happiness and the American League pennant“. So, my question is: Whats the point of a salary cap?

     The second article from the Herald today is titled “Time to Let Fenway Go” by Steve Buckley. You can read his thoughts HERE. This subject seems to appear at least once a year and normally around this time. The debate surrounding it is both emotional and economical. Personally, I see both sides in this one.
 
     I happen to love Fenway. I love it the same way a child might love their favorite blanket. It’s the only one I’ve ever known and I’m comfortable with it. I have a lot of memories regarding it as well and if you tore it down, then I could no longer go there and have those memories come rushing back and fill me with thoughts of days gone by.

     There is the historical aspect as well. It remains a landmark to baseball and it’s roots. That’s something die hard fans have a hard time letting go of. All of baseballs greats have played there. Not all of them were members of the Red Sox, but each have stepped foot on that field. Wrigley field is the only other ballpark that can say that. None of the other vintage parks exist anymore and letting that kind of history give way to a wrecking ball, understandably does not sit well with baseball historians.

     Finally, there is the ever present fact that Fenway isn’t able to match the revenue that other teams who have larger stadiums can produce. Even with the highest ticket prices in the game, Fenway falls far behind the revenue of what parks like Yankee Stadium are capable of producing. The other aspect that’s impossible to get around is the seating. Fenway is crippled with obstructed veiw seats, seats that are facing away from the action and to put it bluntly, seats that to many are just plain uncomfortable to sit in. Fenway, to put it mildly, is not the most fan friendly park in these respects….it’s not even close when compared to others.

     Like I said, I see all sides to this debate and I still can’t decide which side I’m on. Each has a big plus side and each has a major draw back. I’d like to think that baseball is an emotional game for the fans, but we have to also understand that it is a competitive game as well off the field. Which do you hold dearest? The memories, The history or The comfort and competitive edge?

     This is an issue that will need to be made for me I’m afraid. Mom & Dad will need to take my blanket away before I’m going to be able to see if life is better or not without it.