Ever since the first pitch was thrown, pitchers have been accused of “doctoring the baseball,” which means applying foreign substances to the ball that alters its path, making it more difficult for the batter to hit the pitch. But this season “doctoring the baseball” also has a different meaning: Is the ball free of Covid-19 variants, because New York City Mayor Eric Adams has abolished the private sector mandate, which said unvaccinated players cannot take the field in New York City stadiums.

Mayor Adams decision should have not come as a great surprise. All during the Covid-19 crisis, government officials have been giving in to the pressure of businesses, despite the warnings of medical scientists that it’s too soon to lessen mask mandates.

But unintentionally, Mayor Adams has also done sports fans a big favor: They no longer have to spend hundreds of dollars to get the best seats in the house at a ballgame.  Because when the baseball season opens on April 7, the best seats in the house will be the ones the furthest away from the field –the ones just below the rafters in Madison Square Garden and in the last row of the bleachers at the Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.

That’s because the tough-on-crime Mayor was a softie when it came to the moguls who run the sports business and lifted the private sector mask mandate, despite Covid-19 variants still increasing illnesses in Europe and the U.S.  On April 3, the day this column was written, the New York Times reported, “An average of 3,319 cases per day were reported in New York in the last week. Cases have increased by 60 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths have decreased by 52 percent.”

Mayor Adams’s decision is in contrast with his predecessor, Mayor Bill de Blasiowho was soft on crime but tough on Covid. 

A major reason for Mayor Adams decision to vacate the ban on unvaccinated players was, he said, to help New York City’s economy.  I freely admit that when it comes to economics I’m no Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes, but I don’t see how having a few unvaccinated athletes play is going is going to help grow the economy.  (It’s not as if the Yankees and Mets were going to cancel their seasons because of the vaccination mandate.) Call me a skeptic, which I am, but after reading  a New York Times story on the lobbying efforts by “Owners and executives of some of the wealthiest sports franchises” urging the Mayor to permit unvaccinated players to suit up at stadiums, it’s my thinking that was the reason for the Mayor’s surprisingly, sudden switcheroo.

After declaring that unvaccinated members of New York sports teams can now make their millions of dollars while, maybe, coming down with the coronavirus and spreading it to their teammates and fans in close to the action seats, representatives of other workers in less glamorous but more important jobs, like police and firemen, claimed that the Mayor was creating a new class system, one for millionaire athletes, the other for “the others.”

Of course, for people who have been following the sports scene, Mayor Adams’ decision is nothing new. There have always been different standards for athletes, which have always puzzled me. Hitting a home run, sinking a jump shot, or throwing a touchdown pass was never in my opinion as important as a physician curing a patient, a teacher helping a young student to learn, or policeman and fireman putting their lives at risk to help others, to name only a few jobs that actually are essential for the betterment of our society.

When Mayor Adams was asked if his lifting the vaccination mandate would also apply to the 1,400 city workers who were fired for not getting vaccinated, he said, “We’re not reviewing if we are going to bring (them) back,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Needless to say Mayor Adams’ decision didn’t surprise me. The rich and the famous have always been treated differently, especially when they are breaking the law. The super wealthy hire the best lawyers that money can buy to defend them. The “others” often have to depend on court appointed public defenders.

Also, for decades the unsavory behaviors of athletes have been excused by team managements if the players were talented enough to help a team. The National Football League, in particular, is the leading advocate of excusing players’ outrageous behavior. While other leagues also have blemishes that are inexcusable, when the subject turns to the seemy sides of the sports business the NFL is in a league of its own.

Mayor Adams’ decision to permit unvaccinated players in New York City stadiums has, I’ve been told by the thousands of health conscious baseball fans that I’m in contact with hourly, created a dilemma for them. What if a batter hits a ball into the stands, which before Covid would result in a mad dash by fans willing to damage an expensive made-to-order suit in order to retrieve an inexpensive baseball, which can be purchased at a local sports store? How will the fans know if the batter or pitcher was vaccinated or if they were playing while the contagious coronavirus bug was still alive and kicking and might be waiting for a fan to touch it before the virus finds a new home? Should the fans take a chance to retrieve a ball that might be loaded with the contagious virus, or just forget about it?

Of course, like all know-it-all pundits, I have the only answer that makes sense. My solution is to not chase after a ball that might make you sick. If you want to proudly show your friends the ball you caught at the game, buy one on the way home, rub a little dirt on it and tell everyone how you made a leaping catch. Like many “authentic” sports souvenirs, no one will ever know you have a fake. It’s the sports souvenir business equivalent of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

About the Author: Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in some of the most significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He also traveled internationally as a media adviser to high-ranking government officials. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and was on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He has been a key player on Olympic marketing programs and also has worked at high-level positions directly for Olympic organizations. He can be reached at arthursolomon4pr (at) juno.com.