Ravitch Wants Baseball Finances Public

Baseball’s chief labor negotiator said owners should prove their financial difficulties to fans by making their books public.

In an unusually frank public assessment of the sport’s problems, Richard Ravitch, the owners’ Player Relations Committee president, said that financial records should be released to the public on a team-by-team basis to prove that most clubs are losing money.

“It probably would be a good thing if clubs disclose their profitability,” Ravitch said. “I don’t know why they don’t. They have nothing to hide.”

Ravitch said he discussed the idea with owners, but had not received an answer. Only the Pittsburgh Pirates disclose their finances, although other teams provide records to the players’ association on a confidential basis.

“My first blush is that it is a good idea,” Bill Giles, Philadelphia Phillie president, said Wednesday. “I wouldn’t mind doing it.”