Democracy Means Everyone Wins Sometimes
America's lust for excellence in a winner-take-all society threatens the basic democratic right to pursue happiness -- a right Thomas Jefferson should have defined as an afternoon in the cheap seats of a ballpark. Beer company ads on television cannot pay all the payroll costs. Fans are going to have to decide whether they like the game or like winning. Not everyone can have both.

Baseball, because the schedule is long, held out longer than football and other sports in keeping reasonable prices. Indeed, a fan can still walk up to the Cincinnati ballpark on game day and buy a ticket for $5, a reasonable price in a society that charges $10 for a roller coaster ride in Las Vegas. Describing the location of the seat is a little tricky. They're in the neighborhood of halfway between third base and the foul pole, a million rows up. If the cheap fan wants a beer, a souvenir, or a parking space, the cost goes up, but at least in theory, $5 still buys a seat in America's first baseball city.

Baseball has another advantage over other sports. The worst team will occasionally beat the best team. Any team can go on a hot streak. Even the 2003 Detroit Tigers won 43 times. A reasonably optimistic fan can always hope for the best.

Americans like winners, though, and success feeds an addiction that requires more talent and more money. Payrolls expand, and the money has to come from somewhere. The cheapest seats in Saint Louis, where the team wins most of its games in most of its seasons, start at $9, but the cheap seats are not available for every date. The New York Yankees have game day seats for $10, but the Yankees make some of their extra money from selling caps all over the world.

The fashion among curmudgeonly fans is to compare Derek Jeter's salary to that of a teacher or a medical research assistant and bemoan misplaced values. That's probably fair, but even the quickest and strongest teacher won't be able to sell $10 tickets to watch a math lecture from the bleachers. Who has the most value to society doesn't dictate economic policy; supply and demand do.

The better comparison is between the superstars and their teammates.
Alex Rodriguez is a great infielder, one of the best. He makes the best salary. Hector Luna was acquired by Saint Louis on a Rule Five draft from Cleveland. He made the team as a backup shortstop thanks to a good performance in spring training -- and because the Cardinals didn't want to give him back to Cleveland, as baseball's rules would have required if Luna had gone to the minor leagues. In a home run hitting contest with Luna, Rodriguez would win--by plenty. He will have a better fielding percentage, a better hitting average, a better slugging percentage and better commercials. Rodriguez is a better shortstop, but he isn't 90 times better, which is approximately the difference in salaries.

The shining moment of baseball's democratic possibilities for justice came with Alex Rodriguez's first play as a Texas Ranger, right after he signed the contract for $26 million a year. He tripped over his shoelace.

From the cheap seats Luna and Rodriguez are going to look about the same turning a double play. One of them might be slightly quicker or have a slightly stronger throw to first, but have them swap uniforms, and many fans won't know the difference, a theory Houston stars Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio proved in an exhibition game in Tuscon a few years back.

Luna is obviously the much better value in terms of batting average points per dollar; he is hitting in the middle-200s. Rodriguez is more likely to hit the game winning home run.

The solution is for fans to look deeper into baseball, beyond the won-loss record into the individual opportunity. That's where baseball excels. In every baseball matchup, one player wins and one loses. Either the batter hits safely or he doesn't. He steals a base or the catcher throws him out. He makes the bunt or the pitcher jams him. Moreover, in baseball, the underdog wins a large percentage of the time.

Luna filled in at third base for Scott Rolen, a superstar of Rodriguez caliber but struggling along at about $17 million a year less. Luna had a couple of errors and a couple of hits. He didn't embarrass himself, and the team won. That is human accomplishment in the major leagues. It's worth celebrating -- and it is affordable.

The alternative is more luxury suites, fewer cheap seats anywhere, more television commercials between innings, and more logo marketing. The owners cannot help the fans keep prices down. They face supply and demand issues of their own. Asking the players to turn down inflated contracts is silly if not communist. The fans have the means to control baseball's excesses -- by enjoying the success of the individual, if necessary the individual on the losing team in the small market.

A million Cubs fans can't all be wrong.