An Inaugural View from the Capitol

The excitement that has gripped Washington for the past few days is difficult to describe. Change brought with it a concert by Bruce, Bono, Stevie Wonder and Garth Brooks, as well as a new president who is not a former owner. Yet as I stand listening to Barack Obama’s inspiring inaugural speech on the Capitol lawn, I find myself sneaking a peak across Independence Avenue toward the light standards of Nationals Stadium that rise above the tree line south of the Capitol, wondering if there is any change left for baseball in DC.

The peaceful passing of power is a landmark of our country of which everyone is proud, and this moment in particular is unique. But does it have meaning for baseball fans? I know that the tradition of cellar-dwelling Washington baseball teams needs to end, but I am uncertain how the new president can address the issue. I hear commentators talking about how Obama allows us to embrace “our better history,” yet I know they are not talking about how Nationals fans can once again embrace Walter Johnson’s glory years in the 1920’s.

There is little good news for the Nationals on any horizon, but I believe there is good news for baseball fans generally in having Barack Obama in the White House. It was on display last night when the new president–at the Armed Forces Inaugural Ball– talked to the soldiers in Afghanistan. All of the soldiers were from Chicago and the first question from Obama to each of them was whether they were White Sox or Cubs fans. The president is a White Sox fan and he was proud to tell everyone about it and how much he sees baseball as a defining character issue in his hometown.

Many are happy to see the end of the Bush era, but few are glad to see the former president leave because his status as an owner so colored his views as fan. As we venture into uncertain times for the country and the economy, it is important to remember a previous president who took an assertive interest in the future of the game. In February of 1995 with the baseball strike–the lowest moment in the history of the game–dragging on endlessly, Bill Clinton called the two parties together in the White House and asked them to submit to binding arbitration. The owners–of whom George Bush was one–refused and the strike endured. There is so much more Bill Clinton in our new president, Barack Obama, than there is Bush and that is reason for hope.

On the Washington Post sports page on Monday–the day before the inauguration, a sports columnist Sally Jenkins included her wish list for the new president who most recently supported a college football playoff system. Jenkins’ list was heavily weighted to women’s basketball, the sport she covers. I would like to add several baseball wishes to her list. First, President Obama needs never to miss an Opening Day. He needs to throw out the first pitch of the baseball season every year he is in office because it is the national pastime.

Second, President Obama needs to provide the high-profile support he alone can for initiatives like RBI–Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities. Writers have bemoaned the lack of support for the game among African-Americans and President Obama is in a unique position to do something about that. He needs to speek as often as he can to the issue, to highlight the greater opportunities for athletes in a sport that has 25-man rosters and greater longevity, free from serious and debilitating injury like football.

Third, the president should promote the same “transparency” and ethics for baseball that he is pushing for government. Fans believe that players are the source of inflated ticket prices because their salaries are public knowledge. The issue of a salary cap has re-surfaced as a measure to improve competitive balance, but before the season of labor negotiations and strife roll around again, the profits of each team should be similarly available for public scrutiny. It is precisely the game of cat and mouse that the owners have played over their bottom lines that helped generate the atmosphere leading to the strike in 1994.

Lastly, as the economy worsens and concerns heighten about salary and bottom line, the new President should anticipate the possibility of labor strife at the end of the 2011 season. He should not wait as President Clinton did until a strike hardens the positions of each side, but should seek to bring together the players association and the owners whenever dark clouds gather above the game again.

The iconoclastic Shepard Fairey poster of Barack Obama pictures the new president looking toward a distant horizon with nothing more than the word “Hope” writ large across the bottom. Hope indeed. There are so many new directions the country needs. Most of us can envision so many.  I acknowledge that baseball may not be the most important thing on the new president’s desk.  Yet hopefully in the 2009 season we will see a new president who is actively and positively engaged in the sport. And maybe, just maybe, Obama can bring winning baseball back to the capital and we will be watching post season baseball in Washington, DC once again.