The new Yankees dynasty rose out of the ashes of that labor disaster and led to a level of payroll disparity that is impossible to defend even in the face of the industry's record $6.5 billion in revenues last year.
Case in point: The combined salary of the three-man starting rotation that Yankees manager Joe Girardi announced for the American League Championship Series - CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte - was higher than the entire payrolls of the San Diego Padres and Florida Marlins. Yankees star Alex Rodriguez made almost as much all by himself this year ($33 million) as the whole Marlins team ($35.5 million).
The defenders of the current system point out that the Yankees have not won a world title since 2000 in spite of their vulgar spending habits, but it's impossible to dispute the impact of the economic advantage held by a small cadre of large-market teams.
Since 1995, only three teams outside the Northeast corridor, the Los Angeles metropolitan area and Chicago have won a World Series title, while seven of the past 14 world championship teams have come from New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
It might be convenient to look at the huge increase in overall revenue and say that the game isn't broke and it doesn't really need fixing, but the bottom line isn't the only bottom line in this case. When you have one player making as much as a whole other team, something is seriously out of whack.
That's not just me talking. I've heard the same sentiment from some people on the ownership side, though I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a majority of baseball owners to make another big push for a hard salary cap. Everybody's making way too much money to put those giant revenue streams at risk with another labor showdown.
The best you can realistically hope for over the next few years is another big enhancement in baseball's revenue-sharing system, hopefully with stricter rules requiring teams receiving those funds to spend them on payroll.
That wouldn't stop the Yankees from buying their way into the playoffs every year, but something has to be done to keep hope alive in the hinterlands.
Listen to Peter Schmuck when he hosts "Sportsline" on WBAL (1090AM) and check out "The Schmuck Stops Here" at baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog.
