As Major League Baseball enters its first labor stoppage in almost 30 years, I have two pieces of advice for my fellow fans — one reassuring and one pleading. First, do not be unduly alarmed; the lockout is mainly theater. Second, do not fall for the canard that those who play the world’s most beautiful and difficult sport are overpaid.
As to the theater: Owners locked out the players after declaring an impasse in the negotiation over a new collective bargaining agreement. Management and players are largely barred from contact until the lockout ends. But the first preseason games aren’t scheduled until late February; the season that counts won’t begin until late March.
