Recently at NRO, Mark Krikorian drew critical attention to an article in the Wall Street Journal which described how minor league baseball teams are now importing foreign players. According to the Journal, “For decades, minor-league rosters seemed the essence of the American heartland. But thanks to growing numbers of foreign players . . . the minors are fast turning into a veritable United Nations.” The reason for the change is a law signed by George W. Bush in 2007, which allowed minor-league teams to import as many foreign players as they want. The law has a name only George Orwell could love, the Creating Opportunities for Minor League Professionals, Entertainers and Teams Act, since it creates no opportunities for “Minor League Professionals” who have the misfortune of being Americans. In fact, it helps drive down the salaries of American players.
John Miller was predictably unmoved, and blamed NRO’s stock villain, Americans who make too much money: “I’m cryin’ my eyes out for those American kids who won’t play baseball unless someone pays them a signing bonus of $100,000.” Miller’s response would likely have been the same if the discussion had been about American computer programmers being displaced by the H1B visa program or American textile workers being displaced by free trade. What are concerns about keeping an American pastime American, or about keeping jobs in America, next to the dictates of globalism? I just wish they’d change the name of the magazine from National Review to Global Democratic Capitalist Review or some other more fitting title.
Leave a Reply