Ball pork
As the city of Billings debates spending $12.5 million in public funds to build a new baseball field, Jim Bouton, the author of the great baseball book "Ball Four," has a new book out on the very subject. Called "Foul Ball," it's reviewed in this month's Harper's Magazine.
Bouton now lives near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which decided to tear down historic Waconah Field and build a new minor-league ballpark at taxpayer expense. Bouton and friends suggested instead a historic renovation and a locally-owned team, but the city's power structure ignored them. Amidst the narrative, Bouton says that over $16 billion of taxpayer monies have been spent on sports stadiums in the last 15 years.
Bouton is especially bitter about the Berkshire Eagle newspaper, which editorialized in favor of a new ballpark -- to be built on land it owned (which furthermore may be contaminated with PCBs). He says that everywhere newspapers align with banks, lawyers, politicians, and contractors to push new stadiums against the wishes of the public. (Another source -- here -- calls it "ball pork.")
I personally don't care either way about the ballpark in Billings. But I will be especially curious to follow the news coverage.
What do YOU think? Drop a line to info@johnclaytonbooks.com. To receive these posts via email, write to johnclaytonoutreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. (You need not put any text in the message.)
Bouton now lives near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which decided to tear down historic Waconah Field and build a new minor-league ballpark at taxpayer expense. Bouton and friends suggested instead a historic renovation and a locally-owned team, but the city's power structure ignored them. Amidst the narrative, Bouton says that over $16 billion of taxpayer monies have been spent on sports stadiums in the last 15 years.
Bouton is especially bitter about the Berkshire Eagle newspaper, which editorialized in favor of a new ballpark -- to be built on land it owned (which furthermore may be contaminated with PCBs). He says that everywhere newspapers align with banks, lawyers, politicians, and contractors to push new stadiums against the wishes of the public. (Another source -- here -- calls it "ball pork.")
I personally don't care either way about the ballpark in Billings. But I will be especially curious to follow the news coverage.
What do YOU think? Drop a line to info@johnclaytonbooks.com. To receive these posts via email, write to johnclaytonoutreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. (You need not put any text in the message.)
