Listen now | Harry Marino—former minor league pitcher, former attorney at D.C.’s elite of the elite, Williams & Connolly LLP, and co-captain with yours truly of the Men’s Gold team for the 34th Annual UVA Law Softball Invitational held in 2017 (trust me—between 0.3 to 1.6 times cooler than it sounds)—is one cool dude.
Worthy conversation, Mr. Hagen. But as you must be aware I fundamentally disagree with most arguments. Did your guest try to negotiate without the threat of government coercion? ( of course stipulating no government favors to either side).
Story: my dad would pick me up on Friday in the early 1970's and ask, "Wanna go to the ball game?" We could go get tickets on game day back then, I would look at the price for a field level ticket at Dodger Stadium and they were $6.00. Now they are hundreds of dollars and it's like a trip to Disneyland. Did your guest go to the billion dollar players and ask them to pitch in? Maybe they should be coerced to give up their salary.
Also, a player is working for MLB and not for the team in reality. Think AFL/NFL. People are the organization. I worked hard for 45 plus years as a Union bricklayer and am fortunate that my boss recognized my value to them. I am treated well because of my efforts, not the union's. Mr. Hagen knows me well enough that this is with respect, good will and generosity. It is difficult to do this in this way where a conversation is more appropriate. Take care.
I had guessed you would. To me, sports seems like just such a different situation from most other fields. The government coercion Harry was threatening was just to reverse a government favor that MLB has been getting all along, and the players are subject to such restrictions that it’s really not clear what they can do to improve their position without some form of hard-nosed collective action. I get the concern with prices—it would be nice to see the teams agree that some number of seats, maybe 3,000 or so, will always be under $15 or some reasonable number. Definitionally, the teams don’t really face direct competition—few cities have two teams, and baseball/basketball/football/etc. only kind of compete with other leisure activities. I’ll have to think about it some more.
Worthy conversation, Mr. Hagen. But as you must be aware I fundamentally disagree with most arguments. Did your guest try to negotiate without the threat of government coercion? ( of course stipulating no government favors to either side).
Story: my dad would pick me up on Friday in the early 1970's and ask, "Wanna go to the ball game?" We could go get tickets on game day back then, I would look at the price for a field level ticket at Dodger Stadium and they were $6.00. Now they are hundreds of dollars and it's like a trip to Disneyland. Did your guest go to the billion dollar players and ask them to pitch in? Maybe they should be coerced to give up their salary.
Also, a player is working for MLB and not for the team in reality. Think AFL/NFL. People are the organization. I worked hard for 45 plus years as a Union bricklayer and am fortunate that my boss recognized my value to them. I am treated well because of my efforts, not the union's. Mr. Hagen knows me well enough that this is with respect, good will and generosity. It is difficult to do this in this way where a conversation is more appropriate. Take care.
I had guessed you would. To me, sports seems like just such a different situation from most other fields. The government coercion Harry was threatening was just to reverse a government favor that MLB has been getting all along, and the players are subject to such restrictions that it’s really not clear what they can do to improve their position without some form of hard-nosed collective action. I get the concern with prices—it would be nice to see the teams agree that some number of seats, maybe 3,000 or so, will always be under $15 or some reasonable number. Definitionally, the teams don’t really face direct competition—few cities have two teams, and baseball/basketball/football/etc. only kind of compete with other leisure activities. I’ll have to think about it some more.