Small market teams with big chances

Although I grew up as the son of a former minor league baseball player and later… Although I grew up as the son of a former minor league baseball player and later sportscaster, I never got into baseball when I was little.

That is, until the age of 9. Then, the Texas Rangers’ Nolan Ryan captured my attention, and I became a huge fan of the “Texas Express.”

Eventually, my interest in the sport broadened and soon I had four favorite teams. They weren’t exactly original.

I liked the Rangers because of Nolan Ryan and because I lived in San Antonio, Texas. I liked the Astros for much of the same reason.

I liked the Pirates, since my father grew up in Pittsburgh. And I liked the Twins since my mother was born and raised in Minnesota.

When I was 9 and 10 years old, I never really cared much about the Twins, who usually dwelled in the American League’s cellar. But things changed when I was 11.

That year was wonderful for me baseball-wise. By that time, my worship of Ryan had faded, as well as my love of the Rangers (surprisingly, I just lost interest, not even because of my well-documented strong dislike for the then-owner, who is now our president), and the Astros didn’t matter much to me since they were mediocre. But that year the Twins completed a turnaround from worst to first, and the Pirates – barely – lost the National League Championship Series in the ninth inning of game seven.

While I was disappointed my parents’ hometowns weren’t playing each other in the World Series, I remained glued to the TV for all seven riveting games. Those who wanted to display their Southern pride in my middle school – by rooting for the Braves to beat the Twins – taunted me constantly.

Thankfully the Twins pulled off the victory on Jack Morris’ phenomenal performance in game seven.

After that season, the Pirates were dismantled as Doug Drabek and Barry Bonds left for greener pastures; the team has been bad ever since. The Twins had much the same problem.

Both Minnesota and Pittsburgh are small markets, places where teams have trouble making enough money to keep big-name stars. Because of a lack of revenue sharing in baseball, owners with deep pockets and large markets, like George Steinbrenner of the Yankees, can afford to maintain rosters of all-stars, while owners like Kevin McClatchy of the Pirates and Carl Pohlad of the Twins can only field teams that minor league teams could theoretically romp.

Last year was a horrid year for me as far as baseball is concerned. The Twins, Pirates and Astros all finished with horrible records. As usual, Steinbrenner and his money won yet another Series.

But things have changed this season. The Pirates still suck, even in spite of the glories of PNC Park, but the Astros have become decent and – are you ready for this? – the Twins are in first place.

Just like 10 years ago, the Twins appear to be ready to complete a turnaround from worst to first.

Even more amazingly, they have done this without any major free agent signings and with the 30th highest payroll in baseball – out of 30 teams.

In spite of being a Twins fan (admittedly, something about which I talk more this year than any since 1991), I can barely name anyone on the team’s roster.

The Twins, as well as the Phillies and A’s, two other low budget teams, seem to be everyone’s Cinderella team. Here they are, a team with no-name players who have come together with all their hearts and souls, putting aside individual effort for the common good – and winning.

But enough of the cliches to describe the Twins. Being a great team of no-names is fine and dandy. Are the Twins bad for baseball?

Sure, Americans love the underdog struggling against all odds and coming out on top. Seeing low budget teams suddenly winning may help baseball’s popularity with those who feel that the game is only about big-name players and owners making a lot of money and ripping off the fans while they’re at it.

In the short run, the Twins’ and Phillies’ success may help baseball. But in the long run, it may hurt.

As much of a Twins fan as I am, part of me wishes they were having a season like the Pirates are. Why?

Next year, some of the debates temporarily settled by the strike of 1994 – including revenue sharing among teams or the possibility of a salary cap – will be revisited.

In other sports, salary caps have helped maintain the competitive balance. In the NFL, teams from small markets like the Steelers, Saints, Ravens and even the Packers from little Green Bay, Wis., (pop. 300,000), can and do compete with teams whose owners have deep pockets and large markets like Jerry Jones’ Cowboys.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, who also owns the Milwaukee Brewers, a small market team, has argued heavily for revenue sharing. But owners like Steinbrenner argue that every team should be responsible for raising its own revenue, and tough luck for those teams that can’t.

Unfortunately, the Twins and Phillies have provided fodder for those who oppose revenue sharing. Because of them, one could argue that small market teams can compete with small payrolls and no revenue sharing.

That school of thought prevailing will damage baseball in the long-run.

After going through this great moral debate over whether I should be rooting for the bad guys this year to help the good guys in the future, I decided that in the end, I want to see the Twins go all the way.

After all, it’s only sports, and who knows if the Twins will ever be this lucky again. That is, if they exist at all.

David McKenzie is the opinions editor of The Pitt News. He likes to argue for fairness for the little guy in his columns, and thinks it would be only fair to see your big market teams fall one by one to the Twins come October.