Baseball's chickens coming home to roost

Major League Baseball is plagued by a whole host of problems -- and most of them are the game's own doing.

There is talk that there could be another work stoppage -- the first since the disastrous 1994 debacle.

There could be another work stoppage slated for Oct. 1 -- just in time for the playoffs.

This would drive even the die-hard fans away from the game.

There is still talk of contraction. The owners and commissioner Bud Selig still want to lop two of the 30 teams.

Only now the talk centers around Montreal and Tampa Bay, not Montreal and Minnesota.

Major League Baseball would be well served if Montreal was moved to Washington, D.C., and the two Florida teams (Tampa Bay and Florida) were merged and packed off to Orlando.

Now there is uproar over the issue of steroids.

Former Major League players Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco, who are now well-known abusers of steroids, have made a lot of noise in recent days.

Canseco, who retired from the game just 38 homers short of 500 for his career.

He won't get many votes for the Hall of Fame because he became too homer-happy and injury-prone during his later years, threatened to write a tell-all book about all the players who use and abuse steroids.

Canseco's wildest claim is that 85 percent of Major League Baseball players are on steroids.

Caminiti made a lot of noise in the recent issue of Sports Illustrated, as well as the Dan Patrick Radio Show on ESPN Radio, about his use of steroids.

He also said that 50 percent of Major League players abuse steroids, only to back off one day later.

Combined with the New York Post's attempt to "out" New York Mets' catcher of future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, Major League Baseball has several serious problems.

Baseball has some other issues such as the lack of minorities in front office positions and the fact that young athletes are more infatuated with basketball and football and even soccer.

Then there is Texas Rangers' owner Tom Hicks, who paid Alex Rodriguez $252 million over 10 years and now wants to tighten the purse strings.

Tell me Mr. Hicks, did Alex Rodriguez hold a gun to your head and demand that you pay him $252 million? I don't think so.

Baseball owners such as Hicks and New York Yankees' George Steinbrenner don't get it.

The players never made them pay millions of dollars in salaries.

Baseball also another problem. The poorest teams are also usually the teams with the worst records, and they have the top picks in the draft.

They also cannot afford to sign their draft picks.

The Oakland Athletics, who lost three key players to free agency -- Jason Giambi (New York Yankees), Johnny Damon (Boston Red Sox) and Jason Isringhausen (St. Louis Cardinals) -- have seven of the top 39 picks in the baseball draft, which started today.

But the A's, who won 102 games last year, are supposedly broke, and won't be able to pay their draft picks.

That means three or four of these picks will never be signed.

According to Rick Sutcliffe, a former Major League pick and a current ESPN analyest, baseball needs to find a way to make sure the economically-strapped teams such as the A's or Kansas City Royals can sign their draft picks.

How is the current administration led by commissioner Bud Selig dealing with these problems?

Quite simply, it isn't.

Selig and his owner cohorts have let all the horses escape the barn, and now they want to shut the door and lock it up.

Selig claims that 25 of the 30 teams are losing money, but independent accounting firms say otherwise. However, Selig and the owners won't open the books.

Selig has also attempted to blackmail Major League cities into building new stadiums.

While new stadiums in Baltimore, Cleveland, Texas and Atlanta are making money, stadiums in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are losing money.

Coincidentally, the annual All-Star Game will be played at Millawukee's Miller Park. The former owner of the Brewers is none other than commissioner Bud Selig.

There is talk of players semi-boycotting the All-Star Game. If Selig wants to improve Major League Baseball, he should start with himself and then his owner friends.

With apologies to the late Malcolm X, Major League Baseball's chickens are coming home to roost.

H Lawrence Phillips -- Former University of Nebraska football star Lawrence Phillips -- he of the much-checkered resume -- has been given about his ninth live as a professional. Phillips, a star running back for the Cornhuskers who was given chances by the St. Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers, was signed by the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

Phillips has shown some flashes of his collegiate brilliance in the pros, but has made more news off the field for domestic problems and drug abuse.

Phillips should have been thrown off the Husker squad by then-coach Tom Osborne because of that notorious incident where he dragged his girlfriend down three flights of stairs by her hair after catching her in a tryst with another player.

Lawrence Phillips is my third inductee into the "Sick Sad World of Sports Hall of Fame."

He joins dysfunctional boxer Mike Tyson and the New York Post as the first inductees.

Good luck Lawrence. You need all the help you can get.

John J. Mesh is the sports editor of the McCook (Neb.) Daily Gazette. Believe it or not, baseball is still his favorite sport to watch on television after Kansas City Chiefs' football. This column was procrastinated from its usual spot on Friday because of the heavy sports weekend we just had plus a case of brainlock. He can be e-mailed at sports@mccookgazette.com.