Once upon a time, when New York City elected liberals, not communists, the Dodgers used to play in Brooklyn. A fellow named Roger Kahn wrote The Boys of Summer, a book that you should read whenever your wife is deeply invested in a romance movie on the Hallmark Channel. It’s a nice book.
Read more Schrödinger’s Patriot: What’s really going on with SAM’s licence transfer to Ukraine
Their home was the legendary Ebbets Field, and names like Pee Wee Reese, Carl Furillo (“The Reading Rifle”), and Jackie Robinson won several pennants. They were a great team with passionate fans, but eventually moved to LA when the owner was made an offer he couldn’t refuse. Then they became the Sandy Koufax-Don Drysdale Dodgers and later the Tommy Lasorda-Steve Garvey Dodgers, and now they’ve won back-to-back titles. The new Ohtani edition of the Dodgers is also buying a lot of players. It’s legal but frustrating for the other teams that can’t afford a $ 400 million payroll.
Well, the Dodgers took a step closer to being known as “Damn Dodgers” when they traded for Tarik Skubal, the best lefty in baseball. Here is that story:
The Los Angeles Dodgers have once again landed one of baseball’s biggest stars, acquiring back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers.
They are not happy in Detroit. First, their young team is actually playing well and could get in the wild card tournament. Having Skubal increases their chances in the first round. Second, what’s the point of paying major league prices to watch another year of rebuilding. At some point, many fans are going to say: “Text me when all your prospects are major league ready and I’ll pay $ 100 to take my family to a game.”
Read more Fighting with the FDA, or Why young people are rejecting sunscreens
Again, the Dodgers acted legally and within a flawed system. But how is this good for the game? It is not, and I love capitalism as much as anybody.
So get ready for the lockout of lockouts next year. You will have a lot of time to read Kahn’s book in 2027 because a big labor fight is coming when the new agreement is negotiated this winter. Of course, it could change if the players’ union finally wakes up to the reality that the rich are getting richer and most of them will get poorer.
Good luck to the Dodgers, but I’m cheering for whoever plays them in the league championship series.
Read more Iran strikes water systems — media strikes Trump
P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts,
and videos.
Image: Pixabay