Lords of the Realm: The New Chapter

I think one of the reasons that I'm such a bad capitalist (I am one, just not enthuiastically) is because the only business that I think I know anything about is baseball. And the owners there are idiots, so what's the hope for the other people who control the means of production? (I also recall the line from the Wizard of Oz: "They are no smarter than you, Scarecrow. But they do have one thing you haven't got: a diploma." So there.)

Tom Boswell, nicely done:

The smartest thing baseball can do is realize that it took a midnight miracle last month to get a 9-4 vote out of the rebellious council for a stadium lease of any kind. Baseball should think: Let's nail this down before that crazy council votes again.

With one word ("yes"), baseball can lock up a $450-million sale of the Nats, set the new ballpark in motion, name a new owner for the team and, in short order, erase every iota of the vast ill will that the game has earned for itself in this town.

Or the game can say "no," and walk down a dark alley where public hostility and political intransigence are sure to lurk. The local media will likely join the baseball bashing party. (I'll bring an old Louisville slugger.) My guess is that baseball will do what it usually does: choose the worst available option. And say, "Not good enough."

For 30 years, when baseball has been in a showdown with big money, lawyers and huge egos in play, the sport has made the wrong decision almost every time. The lone exception was when MLB finally avoided a strike in its last labor negotiation. Time after time, Bud Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf were near the center of the negotiations that ended in stubborn expensive stalemates.