Small markets making big noise
Selig’s worst nightmare comes true in Montreal, Minnesota, other cities

(Author’s note: This article originally appeared in the May 1, 2002 edition of NationalPastimes.net’s The Daily)

Last winter, Commissioner Bud Selig of Major League Baseball proposed a bold initiative: the contraction of two franchises from baseball’s landscape. At the time, both teams weren’t revealed to the general public. It was widely expected among the media that the two teams being contracted were to be the National League’s Montreal Expos and the American League’s Minnesota Twins.

Sure enough, come late January - early February, the announcement was made. MLB announced that both teams were considered for contraction and it would take place as soon as possible. Unfortunately for Selig, the decision came too late for it to take affect for the 2002 season.

During this time, an ownership change took place in Montreal. Jeffery Loria, a New York businessman, decided he wanted out of Montreal and purchased the Florida Marlins, who were then owned by John Henry (he later turned around and acquired the Boston Red Sox with a consortium of businessmen). During this quagmire, MLB stepped in and procured the Expos from Loria and would run the team for a year. They named Mets assistant general manager Omar Minaya club general manager and Frank Robinson field manager. Robinson had been MLB’s vice-president of baseball operations.

Fast-forward to early May 2002.

Along with fellow small market teams Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Oakland, the Expos and Twins are among baseball’s best in the young season’s first month. Entering Wednesday’s play, the Expos were tied for the lead in the National League’s Eastern division (16-10) and the Twins were in an early dogfight for first in the American League Central (16-11, second).

One team (Montreal) is in lame-duck status and is tied in a division that has two teams whose payrolls are more than doubling their own (New York and Atlanta); another squad leads a division in which a team has won the division title for the last ten seasons (Cleveland). And that is not including Cincinnati (15-9, first) and Pittsburgh (14-10, second), who are the top two teams in the National League Central, ahead of pre-season faves St. Louis and Houston, 12-14 and 11-14, respectively.

In Minnesota, where there are as many lakes as there are Marlins fans attending games, own the second largest increase in overall attendance with an uptick of 50,007 fans. MLB still hasn’t considered whether or not to allow Donald Watkins, a businessman from Alabama, even permission to purchase the Twins from Carl Pohlad. He has owned the franchise since the early 1980s after he purchased it from Clark Griffiths, who moved the Twins from Washington, D.C. in the 1960s. Watkins has already committed to the people of Minnesota that he would pay for a new ballpark out of his own pocket should the franchise be his. He has also applied to MLB to purchase the Anaheim Angels.

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati stand at opposite ends of the spectrum. These two organizations have an improved record, but have lost fans at the gate. Pittsburgh stands in second in the NL Central and has played good baseball in the first month of the season. Unfortunately, the Pirates are performing miserably at the gate. Through the first month of home games, they have seen a 133,185 downturn from the same point last season. Positively, though, the television ratings in Steeltown are up, signaling fan interest but showing they are not willing to attend ballgames.

The Reds haven’t reaped the benefits of success, either. Overall attendance for Cincinnati has fallen 62,247, even though the Reds have overachieved to first place in the NL Central. Next season, the Reds should see an increase in attendance with a move across the street to Great American Ballpark, the latest sports edifice to be built in the Queen City of Cincinnati.

So what is a sports commissioner to do?

Here’s an idea: look in your own backyard.

That’s right, Larry.

The Milwaukee Brewers seem to be ripe for contraction. They have a dismal record (8-18, last); have sagging attendance (it has dropped 82,535 through the same amount of dates as last year) and a new ballpark bringing in very little revenue. Of course, Selig would never consider eliminating his ‘own’ franchise (his daughter, Wendy Selig-Prieb, runs the franchise through a trust).

Or, he could look to south Florida, where the amount of people in Pro Player Stadium are roughly equal to the amount of people staying in a hotel room in south Florida during spring break. They have drawn 70,882 less than last season. And the Fish are at least playing .500 (13-13) ball, but you have to wonder why Jeffrey Loria jumped so quickly to buy the Marlins. Perhaps it was a favor to his friend Bud for buying him out as an Expos owner?

Another place to consider is yet another small-market franchise.

Kansas City.

The Royals have played dismal baseball since 1995, going 490-622 (.440) and drawing dismal numbers at the gate, placing no higher than tenth in the fourteen team American League in attendance. After getting off to a poor start this season, going 8-16 and placing second to last, they showed Tony Muser the door. The franchise has been largely rudderless since the death of owner Ewing Kaufmann in the mid-1990s and it isn’t getting any better. Current owner David Glass has not made a firm commitment to the people of Kansas City that he will put a winning product on the field.

But Kansas Citians should take note: David Glass is very close friends with the commish. If Glass wants out, look for two things to happen: MLB bails Glass out with another hefty loan or Glass gets a sweetheart deal and we see another lame-duck franchise next season.

Well, Mr. Selig, what’s the next move? It seems the owners need to take a long hard look in their collective mirrors and come up with solutions to the problem.

It looks like they keep coming up with more questions than answers . . .