George Steinbrenner

Last week, longtime Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner, passed away at the age of 80. He bought the team in 1973 for roughly $10,000,000 and eventually turned it into the most valuable franchise in professional sports.

Since he bought the team, they have won 11 American League pennants and 7 World Series titles.

Last week, after his passing, much praise was heaped upon Steinbrenner for how badly he wanted to win and how he did whatever he needed to do in-order to achieve that goal. Most said he was great for the game; that baseball needs a team like the Yankees who dominate year-in and year-out.

I don't happen to be one of those people. I'm not saying George was a bad person. From most accounts, outside of the baseball world, he was a very nice and charitable man.

But in the context of baseball, all he really cared about was the Yankees. You might think that's an absurd thing for me to say. Of course, he cared about his team, his investment. Why wouldn't he?

Well, like someone pointed out on a radio show I was listening to the other day: Steinbrenner might have been competing against 30 other owners in MLB, but as a whole, baseball is competing against all the other entertainment options out there.

Baseball might be extremely vibrant in places like New York, Chicago, LA, and Boston. But in places like Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Cleveland, not so much. I've been trying to put it into words for years, and that guy on the radio show I was listening to put it perfectly. What does it matter if people in New York and Boston are crazy about baseball but the rest of the country doesn't care?

A lot of people around here say that if we had an owner like Steinbrenner here in Pittsburgh, it would make a difference. "We need someone like that here. He cared about winning, and he did whatever he could to win!"

Well, the one thing that Steinbrenner had that gave him the ability to win at all costs was the city that his team was located in: New York.

You take away New York City and Steinbrenner would have been just another owner. Oh, I'm sure he would have made a slight difference in places like Pittsburgh, but in the end, he would have faced the same obstacles that any other small-market owner has to face. You take an owner like a Steinbrenner and put him in a small market town, and you have Wayne Huizenga. He bought the Marlins the ability to compete for a World Series back in '97 and they actually won the whole thing, but the very next year, they were one of the worst teams in baseball because he sold off every key component of that team. Miami is a small market and there was no way Huizenga could, a) sustain that kind of payroll with the revenue avenues available to him, and b) turn a profit.

The Yankees might be the king of the mountain in the current economic baseball climate, but teams in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles can and have taken advantage of it, as well.

Back in 1994, there was a players strike and one of the things the owners wanted to implement was a salary cap. Well, the baseball players union refused and wouldn't give in. Eventually, the owners gave in and baseball has never really been the same.

Since 1995, the Yankees have won 5 World Series and have only missed the postseason once. The Red Sox have won 2 titles. The White Sox, Phillies, Braves, and Angels one each. That's 11 titles won by the biggest markets in the game over a 15 year span.

The Marlins were the only true small market team to win a championship and they did it twice. However, they had to completely gut their teams after each one.

A salary cap in Major League Baseball wouldn't solve every problem. There are some teams that are just inept. Look at the franchises in the NFL who can't get out of their own way no matter what. The Lions have struggled for years. The Bengals have been bottom-feeders for the better part of two-decades. But at least every team in the NFL has an equal opportunity to thrive if they draft and develop well and make key personnel decisions at the proper time.

The Pirates fall into that inept category. They just haven't made very many sound baseball decisions over the past 18 seasons. No one is disputing this. Had they had some solid baseball people running things over the last 15 years or so, they might have contended a time or two or at least finished above .500 a few times.

But the incompetence of teams like the Pirates doesn't forgive the fact that there are haves and have nots in Major League Baseball.

Some small market teams have risen above the fray and have made themselves into contenders by drafting and developing young stars. Kudos to them. But what happens when their fortunes change and the true cyclical nature of sports comes into play and the players they draft don't develop into stars?

They'll struggle, and there is nothing wrong with a team struggling for a few years. In-fact, that's how it should be in sports. But the problem I have is the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers will always have that chance to compete because they'll always have the large market to fall back on. There are years when they might actually struggle, but it won't be because they can't afford to pay their players.

The Chicago Cubs are a pretty bad baseball team this year. Heck, so far, they have a .250 winning percentage against the Pirates, but they're still able to have a $145,000,000 payroll.

The Yankees have a $200,000,000 payroll, but they haven't just gone out and bought themselves winning baseball teams. It all started with the farm system. They developed key players like Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter. Core players that have contributed to their 15 year run. But they've been able to sustain it by adding players like A-Rod and Roger Clemens to that core.

The Pirates can't do that. They can't afford to bridge that gap from key players from the past to key players of the present.

Had they been able to do that, a young Brian Giles could have been added to a roster that still included Barry Bonds. Or instead of trading a Brian Giles for a Jason Bay like they did in '03, they could have been on the team at the same time. Instead of losing a Doug Drabek to free agency, you keep him and a few years later, you add a Jason Schidmt to the rotation and sustain it for a few more years.

That's what the Yankees have done, but teams like the Pirates, Twins and Royals can't. Sure, they can develop stars, but in the end, they won't be able to keep them. At least most of the time.

I've been calling for a salary cap for years. I don't know if it will ever happen, but I do know that the other three major sports leagues have it and their leagues are thriving.

With revenue sharing in baseball, every team is making money, but there is a difference between making money and being able to compete. Teams like the Yankees and Mets can make money AND compete whereas the Pirates might be able to compete for a few years, but because of the cities they reside in, will never have the revenue streams to sustain it for the long haul.

Some have said that it's capitalism at it's finest. A free-market enterprise and George just took advantage of that. Well, that may be true, but I deal with a free-market society every day and I watch sports to escape the problems of trying to make ends meet.

I don't want my local baseball team to have to try and make ends meet. Not much of an escape.