Storm Clouds

Storm clouds are converging across the baseball world.

A week into the lockout, baseball has already done itself massive harm. After a frenzy of free agent signings that took over sports talk radio -- edging aside the NFL, especially in cities like New York and Detroit where the local footballers are non-contenders -- the owners decision not only halted player transactions, but a second move has minimized baseball's own social and electronic media platforms.

After Sunday night's first rate coverage of the Golden Era Hall of Fame selections, MLB Network has turned into just a rerun outlet. Its panel and news shows on hiatus, the game's normally effective promotional arm has ceased to be regular stop for fans and reporters. Does that help sell the game or bring the opposing sides together in the lab dispute?

As a longtime broadcaster, I know the lasting damage that occurs when bad programming choices chase away the audience -- it's probably ten times harder to bring those alienated folks back to the station after they stopped listening or viewing.

In an era when baseball already has to deal with a lack of interest among people 40 and under, the last thing it needs is to cut down on its outreach and marketing. Cutting back on tools that tell baseball's story and share its history -- especially after an exciting World Series, newsworthy player moves and that touching announcement that honored some very deserving and revered figures in the game's century and a half -- is, to be kind, counter productive.

Simply allowing other outlets online, in print or across radio, TV and streaming to paint this as a petty fight between millionaires and billionaires will only diminish baseball's place in the sports-entertainment spectrum.

Now, it's your turn to put your two cents in. Hit the comment button and share your opinion on how MLB is handing the current situation. 

We're here because we share a love (or at least interest in) baseball. That makes us indirect stakeholders for an industry that is flushing away 26 years of stability at the worst possible moment.