Baseball season is here again. That means the sight of a spectacular play, the taste of that first cold beer, and of course the sound of the freshly-cut taxpayer check to fund new stadiums.

Major League Baseball franchises have been busy holding out their mitts to federal, state and local and governments to fund everything from 40,000-seat major league stadiums to 5,000-seat minor league stadiums. Since 2000, MLB franchises have received $1.41 billion dollars in federal subsidies on bonds alone, with more than $430 million going to the new Yankee Stadium. While the old Yankee Stadium might have been the house that Ruth built, the new one was certainly built by taxpayers.