Sunday, May 6, 2007—a date that will live in infamy for most of the American League Eastern Division—the New York Yankees suddenly and deliberately acquired the rights to seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens.
While some non-pinstriped American Leaguers might remember May 6 as ""black Sunday,"" I for one believe it was a red-letter day for the MLB.
I know you ""America's pastime purists"" out there are going to tell me that baseball has an inherently flawed economic structure that benefits the wealthy franchises willing to spend obscene amounts of moola while hurting organizations that must rely on raising talent through their minor league farm systems. But let's just look at the facts.
The Yankees purchased ""The Rocket"" for $28 million. Could most MLB teams dig into their seemingly bottomless pit of affluence to deal out that kind of fatty cash? Probably not. Does this mean that the other 29 teams won't benefit from this transaction? Absolutely not.
Because the Yankees spent so many Benjamin's and Grant's and Grover Cleveland's on Clemens, they have to pay around $7 million under MLB's luxury tax rules.
So through an intricate and confusing process popularly known as revenue sharing, the Yankees' money gets passed on to all the other teams. Like a rousing Friday night game of bingo at Weeping Oaks Retirement Home, everybody plays, everybody wins.
Sure, the Yankees get a future Cooperstown inductee while the Brewers receive a few thousand dollars to pay for a new racing sausage—coming in 2008, the Moroccan Meatball—but honestly folks, this is America.
People with money are supposed to be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want to do it.
I question the Yankees' move not on an ethical basis, but on a financial one.
With $28 million they could have purchased the entire Florida Marlins team plus a sizeable portion of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays roster.
Now, I'm not an economics major, but I say if you're going to spend that much money, why not go all out? Set up your own major league trust company. Call it something catchy like Evil Empire Incorporated or The Steinbrenner Slugging Corporation—""Buying Championships Since 1973.""
In this way, the Yankees would have three chances instead of just one to win the World Series.
Some sports pundits will undoubtedly use the Clemens signing to push their salary cap agenda.
Look, they tried that in football, and see what happened? Small market teams from Green Bay and Buffalo can actually compete year-in and year-out against the larger market teams. Why, it's simply un-American.
The Clemens signing is a marketing dream. It will increase TV audiences and fan attendances, but it could do so much more. ""Rocket"" fruit snacks, lunch boxes, action figures, a Disney Channel cartoon spin-off with Tim Allen providing the voice of Clemens and Robin Williams starring as George Steinbrenner.
Most importantly, the Clemens signing will take ESPN's attention off young, small-market teams on the rise. Another World Series without the Red Sox or Yanks—now that would truly be infamy.
