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Open Thread: Cubs vs. Rockies at Tucson, Tuesday 3/20, 3:05 CT

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Guess who said this and when it was said:

The chief menace to baseball is the presence of so much big money behind certain clubs. Until some system of shackling the millionaires is devised, the moneyed fighters of the game will always be able to strengthen at the expense of the weaker. Baseball is a big, big business and the open sesame is 'lots of money'.

Apart from the flowery prose, it could have been said today, right?

That statement was made in 1916 by St. Louis Browns owner Robert Hedges, who, tired of not being able to compete with the "moneyed fighters", had just sold the club to Phil Ball.

Some things never change, right? I learned this from reading the excellent SABR compendium, "Deadball Stars of the American League". You don't have to be a SABR member to buy it, as you can see from that Amazon link; I'd also recommend its companion volume, "Deadball Stars of the National League", which was published a couple of years ago.

On to more modern topics: today's game. As usual, cwyers has provided all of us with a succinct and humorous summary of today's headlines. I won't be driving to Tucson to see today's game, in which Ted Lilly will face Jason Hirsh of the Rockies (Hirsh was the guy the Rockies acquired for Jason Jennings).

The game is on MLB.TV for those of you who are subscribed.

And there's always MLB.com Gameday. Apologies for yesterday -- I know one of the links didn't work, as I mistyped something when changing the URL from the previous day. This one should be fine.

I'm going to head over to Mesa a little later on to see what I can see at Fitch Park; I'll report back this evening.

Discuss amongst yourselves.