The biggest problem confronting big-league baseball hasn’t been the search for a full-time commissioner. In reality there has been no search. Bud Selig, in his sixth season as the temporary leader, has the job if he wants it, and according to the latest indications, he is ready take the assignment.
But Selig’s elevation won’t make much difference one way or another and certainly can’t be expected to narrow the enormous disparity between the big- and small-market clubs. The big-market clubs can buy the best available players. So it should come as no surprise that they have the highest player payrolls.
Usually in such discussions, players and teams are matched up according to salaries. But at Comiskey Park Friday night, Tom Kelly, the veteran manager of the small-market Minnesota Twins, put a different and more accurate spin on the controversy.
Instead of talking dollars, Kelly said, “When we’re playing the Yankees, they have 44,000 at-bats and we only have 8,000. So who has the better players?”
The observant Mr. Kelly could see I wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about. He took me by the hand.
“Go through their lineup,” he said, “and their players, combined, have had 44,000 at-bats in the big leagues. We have 8,000, and if I take out Paul Molitor (the Twins’ 41-year-old DH) it could drop to 6,000 or maybe 5,500.”
So it comes down to experience?
“That’s right,” Kelly said. “You can’t beat those teams because they’re too good. You may get one of their hitters to swing at a bad pitch in the first few innings, but as the game continues, they’re a lot better and smarter.”
Kelly claims the same holds for the pitchers.
According to Kelly, the less-experienced pitchers, on average, throw 25 pitches an inning, twice as many as an established pro. Because most managers allow their pitchers to throw 110 to 125 pitches, the younger set seldom lasts more than five innings. The veterans, in comparison, stay through the seventh.
“We’re doing all right,” Kelly said, speaking of his Twins, who have been in second place in the American League Central since May 14. “It’s Cleveland, and then there’s the rest of us. Cleveland is the class of the division.”
Is there is anything a manager can do to improve his club?
“It depends what kind of a market you’re in. You need a big market to win,” Kelly replied. “Everyone knows that. Just look at the clubs that get into the playoffs. They’re either in big markets, or they’re big spenders.”
Kelly was reminded he had managed the financially disadvantaged Twins to World Series triumphs in 1987 and 1991.
“That was years ago,” he said. “It doesn’t work that way anymore. The disparity is now greater.”
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It was Friday night, two hours before his Twins took the field against the White Sox in Comiskey Park. Kelly was in the visiting manager’s office.
“We beat the Yankees twice,” he said, proudly. “They’ve lost only 16 games, so that’s quite an achievement. But for my club to beat the Yankees we have to be perfect. We should take that and put it on our tombstone: `We beat the Yankees twice!’ “
Still, isn’t it difficult to keep his players motivated?
“That’s not a problem,” Kelly insisted. “They play hard. But it’s not the way it used to be. Ten, 15 years ago it took a long time to get over a loss. Today, after 5 or 10 minutes the game is gone. They’re busy with other things. Haven’t you noticed all the cellular phones? They carry them in their briefcases. It’s one of their electronic toys.”
As for the Yankees’ early speed, Kelly isn’t surprised.
“Before the season began, even before we went to spring training, a friend of mine in New Jersey told me the Yankees were going to win 103 games,” he said.
Kelly then laughed: “He was wrong. At the rate they’re going they will win 122.”
The Yankees’ team payroll is approximately $70 million, three times more than the Twins spend.
If Selig can reduce the disparity, he will be the greatest commissioner of all. But he can’t do it. Nobody can–unless the players association agrees to a salary cap, which is unlikely.