A load of ball

As you guys know, I am always eager to jump all over any indiscretion that rears it’s ugly head in South African cricket circles, and believe me there have been enough over the last couple of years to keep me busy. In doing so, I along with a select bunch of media ‘hounds’ manage to effectively play the essential role of a watchdog.

Well have I had a wake up call. I have just returned from a two week sabbatical in New York and as I have always had a keen interest in the game of baseball, I thought I would get my teeth into it during my stay. Over a fourteen-day period I had garnered sufficient information to fill about ten episodes of Extra Cover.

Whilst I have from time to time been greatly concerned about the path of cricket in South Africa, I was appalled by the current state of affairs of baseball in the States.

Some of the revelations that stole the headlines (on page one by the way and not on the sporting pages) included such mind-blowing details like the fact that most baseballers are on steroids. This was readily admitted by some of the huge names of the game. This as you can imagine got the administrators in a tizz and the spin-doctors working overtime. The more statements that were made by all and sundry the deeper the crisis became. Suddenly an announcement was proffered that random testing would come into effect next season and boy did that get the shackles up. The end result of days of innuendo on this matter was that the baseballers would go on strike AGAIN should that be enforced. The last national strike a couple of years ago almost killed the game for good. This one will simmer for some time yet with no common ground in sight.

Next the millions of fanatical supporters were told that more that half of the clubs in the major league were technically insolvent. Great news for paying faithful that turn up in their millions with dollars in hand every month!

Then the focus turned to why this was happening. Well it didn’t take long to realize that the player payments were ludicrous. Ranging from $12 million per season to inflated salaries that overrated rookies took home. Can you believe the average baseballer, and when I say AVERAGE I mean AVERAGE in some cases, earns $2.38 million per season! As you can imagine accusations were flying left, right and center (field!).

On the day I left and boarded the ’big silver budgie’, talk was rife that the worst-case scenario was on the cards. A nation wide strike was being debated by anyone offering a voice and as you know in the States that means a quorum of about a thousand opinionated people.

Upon hearing that news, the response of the public was a loud and simple one:

“Two strikes and you’re OUT!”