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Posted By: Todd Schultz

Jim, I'd have to disagree that this is capitalism at work, or if it is, it is far from the best example. Capitalism presupposes profit as the raison d'etre, and here the Yankees' objective is less profit motivated as it is ego motivated. The two are not mutually exclusive, of course, but Steinbrenner is more concerned with winning than gaining profit. In fact, the true capitalists in MLB, i.e. those who look primarily to make profit, are usually chewed up by the fans and media as in it for the wrong reasons.



Capitalism exists in many forms, but is widely viewed as market driven, with risk association and, generally, with competition as the driving force. Here, as has been said, there is gross inequality of resources caused more by local geography and population centers than any business acumen. The Yankees face little risk because of their vast advantage in these resources. Taxes imposed against them, in effect a penalty designed to discourage them from taking advantage of their resources, are also of little effect. Also, in a true capitalistic model, someone could enter the New York market and try to build a better team than what is there. Of course, baseball's oligopoly will not allow that, and these things, combined with baseball's antitrust exemption, make baseball in general and the Yankees in particular as less than a glowing example of capitalism at work, IMO.