Baseball deserves no fan following

Once upon a time, some 60 odd years ago, I was a baseball fan. It was a time when we called baseball players "heroes" before we knew the definition of the word.

And yet, fielders showed up for every game, pitchers occasionally pitched complete double-headers, and all were available to sign autographs free for kids after the game was played.

As television came upon the scene, so did money -- big time! This changed "America's Pastime" forever. No longer did the average player earn 50-60 times the wages of ordinary Americans but were being paid much more -- from this multiple to what is now 800-900 times the pay of an ordinary worker.

And by that time my interest in the game started to wane. Baseball left the world of sports and entered the world of big business.

As of this writing as baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is being questioned by sportswriters, he is hedging concerning his future actions even as he praises George Mitchell for his diligence and thoroughness.

Why? Because he is complicit as are the team owners, the baseball union and the players so named! Their collective benign neglect and permissive behavior in the pursuit of greater profit, bargaining power and salaries should be the content of Mitchell's report as well.

I abandoned the game with the baseball strike in 1994 when both sides in the dispute minimized the impact of fans on the game in pursuit of wealth and greed.

I have been vindicated in my judgment to leave what was once a wonderful game and now with this committee's report, unilaterally accusing only the players of league violations, the decision I made more than 13 years ago has become personally prophetic.

James D. Cook

Streamwood