MidValleySports.Com

By John Scanlan

If you’re a baseball fan, you probably hate outgoing players union boss Donald Fehr. If you’re a player, you’re sad to see him go. In 1986, the highest salary in baseball belonged to George Foster of the Mets at $2.8 million. In 2009, the highest salary belonged to Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees at $26 million.

Fehr successfully fought off lockouts and salary caps and oversaw an era of great wealth expansion for major league players. He has been portrayed as obstructive when it came to the issue of steroids (yes) and reigning in player salaries (not quite).

No one ever held a gun to the heads of owners to give 9 figure contracts to players. As Tampa Bay showed last year and the success of the Oakland A’s on a meager payroll, it isn’t about how much money you spend, it’s how you spend it. So for those who bemoan that it’s Fehr’s fault that Kansas City and Pittsburgh will never have a chance because of financial constraints, look no further than the success of the smaller market teams this decade.

As for steroids, Fehr didn’t take on a collaborative role until he was publicly shamed into it by Bud Selig. Fehr was more concerned with protecting the rights of his players, which was basically his job, than doing what was best for the game. His willingness to work with baseball to clean up the game seemed very begrudging and only lent to the perception that he placed the players above the game. This doesn’t play well with fans who want to think it’s all about them (Spoiler: It isn’t).

I might be in the minority, but if I’m the Minnesota Vikings, I’d rather give Sage Rosenfels a chance than go through a Brett Favre saga. Last season, they were very similar when it came to completion percentage and quarterback rating. Granted, Rosenfels threw a few more interceptions than TD’s, but that margin was inflated by one game where the Texans were getting beat badly by Indy and he had to force the ball. Favre’s TD-Int. ratio was nothing special either, though. The thing is, if you’re going to bring the Favre circus to town, it better make the team exponentially, not marginally, better. Favre just doesn’t make them much better, if at all. Somewhere, Torosian is smiling…