It took the threat of a boycott - not just of the trip to Japan, but of an exhibition game Wednesday afternoon with nearly 8,000 paying customers in the park - for the Red Sox players to bring Major League Baseball to its senses.

For MLB is the real culprit in the fiasco that could have gutted its precious overseas season opener. Coaches and support personnel for the Red Sox and A's, Boston's opponent next Tuesday and Wednesday in Tokyo, were going to make the trip unpaid. The players, who will receive $40,000 apiece, saw the obvious injustice and stood up to it.

Leave it to Major League Baseball to risk scuttling this international marketing mission, foolish as it may seem, by planning to do something that may pass legal muster but falls far short of being the right thing to do.

- Alan Greenwood