Pirates, Ahoy- A business model for...

"Pirates fall from first place!" This was the caption on my Toshiba Sport news about two weeks ago, and I was dumbfounded. "They were in first place?" This lowly excuse for a major league team was actually doing something this year, making a run for a pennant at this stage of the season. Usually by now, this team, nurtured in one of the best minor league systems in baseball, a team that probably is the lowest paid in the majors was actually doing something to make their fans smile and cheer.The Pirates have had 18 losing seasons in a row, and Pirate fans with long memories know this team could be bound for greatness.


I go back to the late fifties, when the Giants (my team) and the Dodgers were moving West. I followed the statistics closely on the loser Pirates and decided that they would be my team. They had accumulated some good hitters. The team with Dick Groat, Bill Virdon, Roberto Clemente, and Bill Mazeroski were beginning to come together. The team started to lead the league in hitting. The pitching staff was starting to jell also, especially when Harvey Haddix was added to Vernon Law, Bob Friend and Elroy Face. (Haddix pitched a perfect game for 12 innings in 1959, only to lose,1- 0 in the 13th...read about it...it's a great story http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1155946/1/index.htm) At any rate, the perennial cellar dweller Pirates eventually made it to the World Series against the Yankees and became world champions again in 1960, and more "recently" in 1971 and 1979. Then they faded.


You would think that the tale as this franchise would be very sad with a few glimmers of success. But, the Pittsburgh Pirates are actually one of the most successful franchises in baseball. The business makes money, like their net worth is $300,000,000. They do this by grooming good players in their farm, giving them some battle testing in the "bigs", and then trading or selling them before they have to pay big bucks for star quality athletes. Jose Bautisa, a former Pirate plays for the Toronto team, and has led the league in homers. There are others like him. http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2010/08/pittsburgh_pirates_thriftiness.html

The team could have been winning long ago if that was the aim of the owners. They chose rather to run a successful business, cutting costs, lowering overhead, taking money from the revenue sharing fund that supposedly helps teams in small markets compete with the teams in the larger markets like NY and LA. http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2010/08/the_pittsburgh_paradox.html


So this is a successful business. It has nothing to do with winning, or fans, just making money. Now when did you last hear a Pirate fan yelling "We got a a great business, yea team!" I don't think you will ever hear that. The fans want a winner.

So what has this all got to do with anything. Slip into politics for a minute. Should government be run as a business? If so, what model should be used? What would be the criterion for success? Make/save money and screw the fans. Hmmm!