Argument Analysis

Josh Eick

When it comes to the discussion regarding an MLB salary cap, there are a lot of varying opinions. Some believe that there should be one, while others believe that things should stay the same with no salary cap and keep things traditional due to its over a hundred year old philosophies. Walter Andrew offers his take on the article, Point: Salary Caps Provide Parity in Professional Sports. An article published by Great Neck Publishing. Andrew discusses the parity a salary cap provides, how they bring a better experience for the fans, how salary caps are fundamental to the true spirit of competition, as well as other topics. Overall, Walter Andrew claims salary caps do more good for baseball than bad. Walter Andrew’s analysis of bringing a salary cap in baseball is incisive and it lays an incredible framework for how baseball should be.

Andrew’s purpose for this article is to get baseball fans to realize the importance of a salary cap. Throughout the article, Andrew writes as if he is speaking to a fan. Even going as far as explaining why an inclusion of a salary cap would help not just the game of baseball, but the fans as well, according to Andrew (2020), “salary caps create a better experience for fans of the sport” (para. 12). Baseball fans deserve to be able to attend games knowing that the playing field is even, however, that is unfortunately not the case, as stated by Andrew (2020), “Fans of the game appreciate, and deserve, competition” (para. 12). The fans are what is most important to the game of baseball. Fans are the ones that “primarily pay the athletes' salaries” (Andrew, 2020, para. 12). Andrew’s argument goes even further than just baseball itself. Instead, he gives his pitch why fans are just as important to the game of baseball as its players. This way, he relates to the audience amazingly. Andrew makes the fan feel like they are in this equation just as much as anyone else. Making the audience feel like they have something to do with this, makes it a lot easier for the readers to take his side and ultimately take action in their own ways. Andrew’s way of connecting with the audience to make them feel included is a clever way to get the audience hooked and most importantly, make them want change to occur even more because of their importance to the sport.

Walter Andrew uses rhetorical appeals throughout the duration of his article. Most notably using numbers to reason with the audience. Andrew conjures up a contract from former baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez of the large market New York Yankees, Andrew states (2020), “Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman, is the highest paid player in the history of baseball, earning $33 million for the 2009 season” (para. 3). Andrew would later compare that salary to that of a small market’s entire payroll, “In contrast, the payroll for the entire Florida Marlins team for 2009 is about $37 million—only $4 million higher than Rodriguez' salary alone” (Andrew, 2020, para. 3). This usage of facts and statistics from Andrew does a really good job of painting a picture of what a lack of a salary cap in baseball is like. Instead of just expressing why not having a salary cap can have its drawbacks, he goes in depth demonstrating a real life example with numbers to express his position. Any doubters of his assertions can now see the inequality amongst Major League Baseball and its teams because of that statistic. Walter Andrew would double down on his logos appeal later in the article, “the Yankees and Red Sox outspend teams from smaller markets by more than five times. (Andrew, 2020, para. 4). This is yet another datapoint from Andrew, to once again, express the gap between resources of baseball’s large and small markets. This time, though, bringing up all of the small market clubs and not just one. To really cement the fact that the lack of a salary cap affects small market teams league wide. Five times the small market teams is a massive number. This statistic surely raises some eyebrows and gets people thinking and even changing their minds potentially.

In a nutshell, Walter Andrew’s article helped illuminate my position on Major League Baseball needing a salary cap. Andrew’s statistical illustrations are definitely something I could see myself using in my own analysis. Whether it is through Andrew stating the fans play a large role in bringing balance to the game or his statistical inclusions throughout the piece. I thought this article did both of those things with flying colors. I do, however, wish Walter Andrew would have incorporated some kind of assembly or call to action regarding his position. Not that I think it ruined his argument, I just really felt like it could have really strengthened his argument to a whole other level. Overall, though, this was an incredibly interesting article with points that I didn’t even consider until I read this piece. I can most definitely say that I will be returning to Walter Andrew’s article here again and pull things from it to include in my argument down the road to further solidify my position on the matter of the lack of a salary cap in Major League Baseball.