On June 18th, 1976, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the A’s sales, totaling $3.5 million, of Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox and Vida Blue to the Yankees, saying they were ‘not in the best interest of baseball.’ A’s owner Charlie Finley filed a $10 million damage suit against Kuhn, and would refuse to use any of the three players until June 27.

What, ultimately, is “Fair Competition” in sports and in life as a whole?

In has long been my position that by definition baseball does NOT have fair competition because of the fact that some teams have more resources available to them than other teams do. The Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees NEVER start a season on a level playing field. The Los Angeles Dodgers ALWAYS start their season with an inherent advantage over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Because certain teams have access to more resources (money) than other teams, those teams have more to spend on free agents, etc. If all teams do not have the same amount of revenue, how can it be said to be true competition? How is that “in the best interest of the game”?

In 1976, Bowie Kuhn asked the right question. Unfortunately, in the end it did not matter.

Of course, that is no surprise. Baseball economics mirror American economics. The rich will always start with an advantage. And pundits will wonder why the poor are not accomplishing the same things as their richer brothers and sisters are.

Call it what it is. But do call NOT it “fair completion” or say it “is in the best interest of the game.”