This baseball season, Rob Manfred will not be permitted to attend Bismarck Larks or Kalamazoo Growlers games. He may never recover.
All jokes aside, Major League Baseball has reached an unprecedented tipping point. Disliking Manfred used to be something that was done relatively quietly or politely. He was certainly never the most beloved commissioner in MLB history, but people tolerated him because they loved baseball. Even if they didn’t agree with Manfred’s vision for the game, their love of baseball outweighed their hate for its leader. As long as there was baseball, people could take solace in the game’s mere existence.
Now, there’s no baseball.
The previous unwritten social contract has been thrown out the window and deposited into a flaming heap of garbage in recent days, with MLB and the MLBPA still unable to reach a deal. The MLB season has been delayed, leaving only Minor League Baseball and below.
Amidst the negotiations and heated nature of the contention, multiple players have been more vocal about their disdain for Manfred and MLB as a whole. One of the most notable figures has been recently signed Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, one of the members of the union taking part in negotiations. Scherzer publicly laid out what the players were asking for, while fellow players such as Trevor May, Tomas Nido, Paul Sewald, Alex Wood, James Paxton, Whit Merrifield, Jameson Taillon and Nicky Lopez have all voiced their displeasure with Manfred and/or MLB’s handling of the lockout. May even publicly trashed Manfred on a Twitch stream.
The game’s best player, Mike Trout, spoke out on Wednesday in a Twitter post, writing, “I want to play, I love our game, but I know we need to get this CBA right. Instead of bargaining in good faith — MLB locked us out. Instead of negotiating a fair deal — Rob canceled games. Players stand together, for our game, for our fans, and for every player who comes after us. We owe it to the next generation.”
There’s been an echo chorus of frustration on the players’ side. One has to think this has led to validation for fans who have been dissatisfied with Manfred since long before the lockout. Fans no longer just have to assume that the players probably don’t like Manfred; now they know how the players feel and that they’re doing everything they can to make a change. As disappointing as it is to have a delayed season, there has to be some solace in that fact for the fans. Players and fans alike can now unite in their hatred for possibly the most universally disliked person in all of baseball.
The outcry didn’t end with the season being delayed. If anything, it’s only accelerated.
On Thursday, the Bismarck Larks of the collegiate Northwoods League released a statement, announcing they are banning Manfred from attending their games until the lockout is resolved. The support on Twitter for the relatively unknown team was massive, with the Tweet racking up nearly 10,000 likes (nearly three times as many followers as the team has).
“The Bismarck Larks believe in using FUN to make a difference in the community,” the team wrote in its statement. “We have sell-out games, fireworks nights and so many FUN theme nights in which baseball is just the driving factor… Since the MLB lockout began on December 2, 2021, it has been clear the MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred hates baseball and hate FUN.”
One could call it a publicity stunt, but the statement and ban were legitimate. As was the obvious distaste for Manfred. How many times in baseball history have we seen a team — at any level — publicly shame and ban the MLB commissioner from attending its games? Manfred has made an enemy of baseball. In a perfect world, baseball would be run by someone who loves baseball, someone who the fans can unite and even connect with. It would be run by someone who gives people hope for the future of baseball.
Instead, it’s run by someone who’s screwed up so badly that lower-level teams don’t even want him attending their games.
The very next day, Friday, another team in the Northwoods League followed suit. The Kalamazoo Growlers released their own statement similar to the Larks’, but this time they upped the ante. They banned Manfred for life. So even if/when the lockout is eventually resolved, Manfred will still not be allowed into their stadium. When Manfred is old and long since retired, he will be able to do many things, but one thing he will never be able to do is attend a Kalamazoo Growlers game.
“The Growlers have been committed to using fun to make a difference, and Rob Manfred has shown his commitment to the opposite,” the Growlers wrote. “Amid the MLB lockout, Manfred and the MLB team owners have shown only an interest in money and not providing baseball for their players and fans. They are trying to ruin baseball simply for their financial gain.”
The statement later continued: “The Growlers stand strong in their belief that fun is the key to baseball. The Growlers have gone as far as to implement a ‘Fun Policy’ for all their players, including visiting teams. Rob Manfred stands in direct opposition to these beliefs.”
Reading these statements, you almost wouldn’t believe they’re real. Especially if you’ve been in a coma for the last seven years. When you take a step back, it’s hard to fathom how fierce an enemy Manfred has made of baseball. It’s not necessarily hard to believe that people would have contempt for an authority figure, but this level of hatred, to the point where legitimate baseball teams and MLB players are publicly using the word “hate” to describe his feelings about baseball?
It takes more than just being bad at your job to earn that level of scorn. It takes a special kind of incompetence, one that involves a distaste or even indifference to the very sport you’re supposed to be in charge of.
Whether you’re a Mets fan, a Yankees fan, a minor league player, a major league player, or even a collegiate summer ball team, there’s one thing you should be able to agree on: Manfred has truly made an enemy of baseball, and has been all the more worse for it.
