Being A Baseball Fan Prepares You For Cancer

"It ain't over till its over."
--Yogi Berra (July, 1973)

Always run them out. You never can tell."
--Joe McCarthy (1949)

I've been a baseball fan since I was 3 or 4 years old and my parents took me to an Iowa Oaks game (they were, at the time, the AAA minor league affiliate for the Oakland A's) and I began yelling for the Oaks pitcher to "Cross (i.e., "strike") him out". I soon developed a passion for the game and my favorite team became the Kansas City Royals. As you may be aware, Royals won their division every year from 1976 - 1978 and lost to the Yankees every year in the playoffs. In 1980, they finally beat the Yankees when George Brett hit a towering homerun off Goose Gossage and the Royals finally went to the World Series. They lost in six games to the Phillies, but I didn't care. The evil Yankees had been vanquished. The Royals won the World Series in 1985, but it wasn't the same facing Toronto in playoffs.

Because the Royals became so bad following owner Ewing Kaufman's death in 1993, I decided to "adopt" the Cubs as my other team reasoning that the Cubs were at least semi-competitive and since they were in the National League, they wouldn't play each other anyway except in the unlikely event that both made the World Series.

Wikipedia entry on the Royals (with some editorial commentary by me)

1995-2001: The decline

At the start of the 1990s, the Royals had been hit with a double-whammy when General Manager John Schuerholz departed in 1990 and team owner Ewing Kauffman died in 1993. The Royals went to a board of directors headed by the unbelievably corrupt David Glass, CEO of Wal-Mart. David D. Glass became Owner and Chief Executive Officer of the Kansas City Royals on April 18, 2000 after serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Royals since Sept. 23, 1993. The Board, comprised of Glass and other individuals appointed by Glass, approved his bid of $96 million for the Royals despite the fact a competing bid by Miles Prentice was 25% higher, at $120 million. During the six years of Glass' ownership (2000-2005) the Royals have averaged 97 losses, posting one winning record and three seasons with 100 or more losses, the worst sustained performance for the franchise in its 37 years of operation. Kauffman's death left the franchise without permanent ownership until Wal-Mart executive David Glass purchased the team for $96 million in 2000. Partly because of the resulting lack of leadership, after the 1994 season the Royals decided to reduce payroll by trading pitcher David Cone and outfielder Brian McRae, then continued their salary dump in the 1995 season. In fact, the team payroll was sliced from $40.5 million in 1994 to $18.5 million in 1996.[1]

As attendance slid and the average MLB salary continued to rise, the Royals found it difficult to retain their remaining stars, and the club traded players such as Kevin Appier, Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, and Carlos Beltran for prospects rather than pay higher salaries or lose them to free agency. Making matters worse, most of the younger players that the Royals received in exchange for these All-Stars proved of little value, setting the stage for an extended downward spiral. Indeed, the Royals set a franchise low with a .398 winning percentage (64-97 record) in 1999, and lost 97 games again in 2001.

2002-2006: Rock bottom
In 2002, the Royals set a new team record for futility, losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history. The 2003 season saw a temporary end to the losing, when manager Tony Peña, in his first full season with the club, improbably guided the Royals to their first winning record since the 1994 season. He was named the American League Manager of the Year for his efforts.

Picked by many to win their division in 2004 after faring surprisingly well in the free agent market, the Royals fell apart and established a new low by losing 104 games. In 2005, the Royals continued a youth movement, with one of the smallest payrolls in the Major Leagues. The Royals ended the 2005 season with a 56-106 record (.346), a full 43 games out of first place. It was the third time in four seasons that the team reestablished the mark for worst record in the history of the franchise. Looking for a quick turnaround, General Manager Allard Baird signed several veteran players prior to the 2006 season. Nevertheless, the Royals struggled through another 100-loss season in 2006, becoming just the eleventh team in major league history to lose 100 games in three straight seasons.[2]

During the Major League Baseball strike of 1994-1995, Glass, who was not yet owner of the Royals but chairman of the board administering the team after Ewing Kauffman's death, was one of the most forceful voices on the ownership side to oppose any settlement with the players' union, and supported the use of strike breaking "replacement" players, despite a court ruling that Major League owners were in violation of Federal labor laws. Glass is one of the richest owners in all of MLB baseball and could pose a threat to George Steinbrenner who's Yankees make more revenue than any other team in baseball.

Glass created a controversy on June 9, 2006 by revoking the press credentials of two reporters who had earlier asked pointed questions to Royals management. [1] The harsh move to avoid criticism infuriated many within the press and led to a backlash of articles that extended far beyond the Kansas City sports community [2]

Glass and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of three children, Dan, Don and Dayna, all of whom serve on the Royals' Board of Directors. While Charles O' Finley stripped apart a world championship team the Oakland A's he did it because he he couldn't compete financially in the free agency era, Glass, his cronies and children are simply a bunch of greed heads, putting out the cheapest product possible while lining his pockets.

The Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs, meanwhile, have posted six records above .500 since 1993 , and have twice made the playoffs. One first place finish, one second place finish, and three third place finishes during that time period. If nothing else, they have played entertaining baseball setting attendance records despite a smaller stadium and an unfathomable 100 years without a World Series winner.

What are then, the parallels between cancer and baseball?

1. There are always greedy people willing to their financial self interests above the good of the whole no matter how much money they have, like certain doctors and pharmaceutical companies.

2. Hope Springs Eternal.

3. Once in while, in spite of overwhelming odds, the good guys do win.

4. It's a long season, and a long journey with cancer.

5. You gotta play hurt.

6. There are always certain doctors, nurses and coaches willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to see that the interests of the player/patient are put first.

7. Sometimes you need to fire the doctor or manager to move forward.

8. Sometimes the rules of the game change--scientific breakthroughs, interleague play, etc.

9. As long as a game is played well, it is still enjoyable even if your team loses.