Play ball!

With Major League Baseball owners and players still far apart in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement and already six games from the 2022 season having to be cancelled, there are many people outside of those two groups that will be greatly affected by a work stoppage.
Business owners near the stadiums have expressed a deep concern if the baseball season continues to be put on hold. Many of these business establishments such as restaurants and clubs count on the 81 home games each season to boost their profits.
There are also the many stadium workers such as vendors, concession and souvenir stand workers, ticket takers, ushers, parking lot attendants, and more that will be out of work.
But there is one other group of people that look forward to listening and watching baseball games each day. These people are the senior citizens that aren't able to get out and do many things that others can, so one of the highlights of their day is watching or listening to the games together.
I also write for the Senior Perspective publication that covers the entire state. I have interviewed and written many stories of senior citizens living at home or in senior living facilities. Many of these people really look forward to the baseball season.
One of these people is a former catcher who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league affiliates. Elmer Kohorst, who met and was assisted by late Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella during spring training, now resides in a nursing home in Albany. His wife has dementia and Elmer watches every game that he can. With baseball being on hold, a part of this man's enjoyment is also on hold.
Another avid senior fan is Carol Wegner, 90, who lives outside of Paynesville. Her home is filled with Twins memorabilia, and she was featured in the Senior Perspective and on WCCO TV to showcase her collection. She is almost always dressed in some type of Twins apparel.
When I went to her house for an interview, I felt like I was in a Twins' museum. I'm sure she is praying that the owner and players can resolve their differences and get back to playing ball again.
These people live for baseball and it's hard for them to understand why these millionaire players and billionaire owners can't give in a little and think about those that are affected by the lockout.
Many baseball fans don't look at the reasons the two sides are so far apart, thinking only that they are rich people attempting to get richer and not having feelings for fans and other workers. It would be nice if they could continue to play baseball while representatives for both sides continued to try and negotiate. But that's not the way it works. If that was the case, neither side would side would ever give in and the negotiations would continue forever.
It would also be nice if a panel of arbitrators could act as jurors and listen to both sides and decide the outcome. That idea was turned down by MLBPA.
Commissioner Ron Manfred put out a news release stating that the owners fully understand how important it is to the millions of fans that baseball resumes as soon as possible and that they want an agreement with the players association as quickly as possible.
Of course, they want an agreement as long as the players agree to everything the owners want. And the players want the lockout to end, too, just as long as the owners agree to everything they want.
The players union also stated that they seek nothing more than a fair agreement. Neither side seemingly wants to give in, even though they both know that eventually one or both will have to.
Major League baseball generated a record $10.7 billion in revenue in 2019. That figure dropped to $4 billion in 2020 due to the pandemic, however. The average player's salary is $4.1 million per year, which is down five percent from 2019.
It must be tough trying to make a living on $4.1 million or more a year. That's more than most senior citizens have seen in their lifetime.
Let's hope this lockout ends soon and we can all go to a game at Target Field or watch a game on the television again.

Congrats matmen
The Mascot staff would like to congratulate the Minneota wrestling coaches and the six Viking wrestlers that participated in the Class A state tournament this past weekend at Xcel Energy Center.
Adam DeVlaeminck, Peyton Gillund, Troy Van Keulen, Zack Fier, Jonah Gruenes and Jackson Esping represented Minneota well at the tournament, as they did all season.
While they may not have had the results that they were hoping for, there are approximately 128 wrestlers in each of their Class A weight classes throughout the state and any of the 112 of them that failed to qualify would have gladly changed places with them and had a chance to say they competed in the state tournament.