New York Yankees: To Hate or Not to Hate?Part Two: Dollars and Sense

Running a business is a simple idea, right?  The overall point, develop a product or service, decide the quality of said product or service, deliver that product or service to the public with intentions of making a profit.

A good way to ensure high profits is to invest whatever it takes in making that product as high quality as possible. 

It takes money to make money, right? 

Putting the best product possible out there doesn't always ensure success, but it heightens the odds significantly in favor of the entrepreneur.  This requires a healthy financial investment though.

The business owner may choose to invest less in their product, in turn retaining some of the investment money and forgoing higher profits.  They may justify this by assuming the money withheld from investing will offset the lack of profit procured by distributing a lesser product.

At times, the latter approach pays dividends.  By putting a lesser product on the shelves and retaining investment money, the business owner may succeed on volume or sheer product genius.

These basic business approaches are seen throughout the baseball world.  As a whole Major League Baseball is logging record profits.  Individually teams flourish and suffer based on their unique business practices. 

Some owners have more money than others.  Some owners are willing to spend more than others, regardless of net worth.  There is no regulation or expectation.  There is no standard.  There are many variations to the approach of running a team, and organization as a whole.

Most organizations play the safe bet, and keep a level approach when putting together their product.  That product being the team brand, the front office, the coaches, and of course the players.  This level approach is advisable depending on the team's market, demographics, and profitability based on their current situation. 

There are teams that choose to take another approach.  The approach that shows them spend more, hoping to achieve more, based on that expenditure.  These teams are few, but they are hard to miss.  These teams spend, spend, and spend some more in all areas, strengthening not only themselves, but all of baseball in the process.

There are a few teams with high ceilings for spending, that can carry other teams, through profit sharing, and large turnouts when said teams come to town.  

Many teams reap the benefits of a higher drawing team visiting their venue, thus raising profits because of the popularity of the visiting team.

Now that we have established the general idea of how things work throughout baseball as whole, let's get to the point.

One of the oldest, most used, and most popular attacks on The New York Yankees is anchored by this topic.  Money, and a lot of it.  Most of you have heard it, some of you have used it.

The Yankees buy championships.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  The most glaring example of this is the simple fact that the Yankees spend obscene amounts every year, and more often than not, have nothing to show for it.  This spending has never guaranteed a ring.  It heightens the odds. 

In fact some might argue, during the most recent dynasty, some of the most important players on those World Series teams were home grown, not free agents or trades. 

Of course, both homegrown talent and hired guns played their parts, but the point is: Not all Yankee talent is purchased.  Some of the greatest Yankees were homegrown.  For the sake of argument, it is fair to say some of the best were bought as well.

Another dent in the armor of the purchased victory would be this.  The Tampa Bay Rays were second to last in payroll this past season.  They bested teams all year long, teams that had individual players who got paid more than the entire lineup of the Rays.

The point here is this.  Remember what was said earlier?  Well think of the Yankees as the business owner that spends more to put a quality product on the field.  Not only for the success of the team, but also to reward the high demands of the fan base. 

Think of the Rays as the owner who relied on sheer product genius to succeed.  Neither is a sure fire way of emerging victorious, but both models have their advantages and drawbacks.

If it were so simple as to purchase championships, the Yankees would win every single year.  What the true fan understands is finance is just one aspect of baseball. 

Finance is but one card in a hand of poker.  That one card won't do much on its own, join that card with a few more and you might have a winning hand.  That is, if the team across the table isn't holding aces, which was the case this year with Tampa.

At the end of the day the very argument itself is made with disregard to the fact of how beneficial the Evil Empire is to the game as a whole. 

You can take the Yankees out of the equation and substitute with say the Mets or Red Sox.  A by-product of the heavy spending just so happens to be a greater percentage of success.  Not total success, or indefinite success, but business success.  The teams with the higher caliber players tend to succeed more often than the sporadic winners who win on product genius like the Rays. 

The success of these high dollar teams is beneficial not only to themselves but baseball as a whole.  It is a fact like it or not.  The fact that the Yankees spend so much and do so well may very well have a direct effect on the greater good of your team, and its success.  

The sport in general reaps the rewards of high profile teams the spend outrageous amounts to put the best product on the field.  Not just the Yankees fall in this category, there are many that play their role.

At the end of the day, the Yankees are in a position to do what it is they do.  Believe it when you're told Steinbrenner isn't the richest owner in baseball, but he has put together the most profitable brand in the sport. 

His approach makes perfect business sense, and has proven to be successful over time.  Very successful.  In the business of baseball, George was not only the Boss, he was the king. 

It's not a detriment that he pours the profits of the organization back into the team instead of putting it into his trust fund.  It's commendable, to be quite honest.  

George knows his fans, he knows himself, he and they have a common goal.  Success, at any cost.  He plays that hand well.  Many men would do something else with those high profits.  They would also wind up drying up the team because it would lose support. 

Just see the Rays' attendance records for an example of this.  Winning also is a card in that hand of poker mentioned earlier.  Fan support is another.

It seems this is all relative when you really break it down.  You don't get much support without winning, you don't win without the support because profits dry up, making it more difficult to put that quality product out there.

There are so many reasons to loathe the Yankees, it's all been covered.  It's not all dollars and cents, that much is certain.  In the case of the Yankees, it makes perfect sense to bring this cut throat, no holds barred, guns-a-blazin' approach. 

Maybe your team either will not, or maybe they can not match that type of financial dominance.  Maybe your owner isn't as good at the business of baseball as you might like.  Maybe they are too selfish to allow your team to step up and compete with the Yankees, due to pocketing profits instead of returning them to the organization. 

Maybe you benefit through profit sharing from teams like the Yankees, or you're the ones mentioned who gain more sales when they come to town.  One way or the other, your discontent with the Yankees may be misdirected.

Perhaps, instead of loathing and discrediting them for their efforts, you might consider saying thank you instead.  In reality, folks that read this argument should express appreciation to the Yankee organization for their business practices as it could be considered the very heart beat of baseball as a whole. 

Everything in baseball revolves around them.  No move is made without consideration for what they might do or react.  They set the bar, and they set it high. 

Maybe someday your team may catch up, and compete.  It wont happen overnight though.  It took the Sox a long time, and now they are even better at it than the Yankees.  Its a proved method of success, maybe your owner should be taking notes.