Baseball Salaries Essay, Research Paper

When people think of high salaries they turn to the world of professional

sports, because that is where athletes are paid outrageous amounts to do the

things they love. Although some would argue that the athletes deserve these

wages, I fell that not all professional sports are paid adequately. For an

example of this statement take into consideration the time and effort that most

pro athletes spend at perfecting there acquired talent. They are fine tuned

instruments, who work hard to do their jobs on the field, on the court, or on

the course. They do this because they love the game. Golfers don?t get paid as

much as other Pro-sports, but do their job just as well. Athletes are paid way

to much, but golfers are not. Now take into consideration how much professional

baseball players make a season. ?The average earned income in major league

baseball is over $800,000 a season?(Fizel, 83), and some of these players just

ride the pine all year. How is it fair that a man that can hit a ball four

hundred feet to send a baseball out of the park make $30 million a season. Barry

Bonds is truly a great athlete, but to be paid that much he should be able to

hit home runs with his eyes closed. I know that these baseball stars bring in a

lot of very good paying customers, and they like to watch the games. Then

though, I could eat for a week on what they are charging to get into Wrigley

Field with good seats for one game. If you will step back with me in time for a

moment you will understand why I am so concerned about this issue about over

paid athletes. In the forties each player was paid fairly but not extravagantly.

?When I joined the Cardinals ball club in 1943 we were paid fifteen dollars

for each game?.(Harig) Back then the players had other jobs to help them make

ends meat. They just played the game on the side and on the weekends for extra

cash. Other sports have the same problems, take professional basketball. Michael

Jordan is the greatest man to ever walk across the hard wood floors of

professional basketball, but to be paid $63 million in one season is almost

sickening. Jordan has so much power when it comes to the NBA, that he is able to

drop out of the National Basketball League and start playing baseball. Then when

he was tired of baseball, the Bulls begged and pleaded for him to come back to

their team. That just doesn?t seem right and fair to me, especially to other

players in the NBA. He may be the greatest basketball player ever, but in my

books he doesn?t have a lot of character and integrity. ?Jordan made sixty

three million last year and the closest man to him was Patrick Ewig; who made

twenty million,?(Partinie) which is a little better character wise. It is true

that these men bring on big crowds and lots of money to the owners, just like

baseball players, but again have to much control. They probably aren?t paid

near as much as the owners could afford to either, the owner can go home with a

fat pocket too. Pro?s are just taking advantage of there talent, at least in

some cases. God gave them their talent and some of them are being very greedy

and not using it for what it was meant to be used for; the pure love of the

game. Football players aren?t any better but are a little different when it

comes to why they are paid so much. They have a lot more at steak when they go

out on to the field to crunch heads. They have to consider the possibility of

getting injured. They are paid to be big, mean, fast, and ruthless out on the

grass against men just as big and ruthless as themselves. Football players are

rewarded money if their talent is exceptional, for touchdowns, yardage, sacks,

stops, interceptions, and many more. If they don?t perform they don?t get as

much cash. If they do live up to what they are expected to, they get over loaded

with money. Emmit Smith, and other runningbacks are paid more than any lineman,

because they are the ones that put on the show, and are what the spectators came

to the game to watch. They also make all the points and make all the good plays

that keep viewers interested. Now I do know that the linemen are a huge part of

how a good half-back performs, with blocks and stuff, but when there is raw

talent in a man you notice it like in Emmit or Barry Sanders. It is also true

for the quarterbacks; they are paid more because they are the conductors out on

the field. They conduct the orchestra out on the field. John Elway is a great

example. He has the strongest, fastest, and most accurate arm in pro-football,

which he has proven. That is the main reason he is one the highest paid

professional football players in the NFL. Some athletes out on the football

field are more aware to the situation of the high prices they are paid. Kevin

Green, a defensive linebacker said ? It is true that we are getting paid

outrageous amount for what we do out on the turf, but we are the most likely to

get hurt in all professional sports. We want to make sure we get what we need

before we get out of the league.?(O?Hara, 12) Kevin Green gives a lot of his

money to charitable events and is a very honorable player also, he is not just

out there for the money. Now then amongst the most popular television events

there is a sport that is respected and loved by millions, but being the men they

are, tour golfers aren?t paid extreme amounts. Golf is a gentlemen?s game

and is respected by all. You don?t see any of the professional players

complaining about their pay, because in the golf world you have to earn your

salary. Players aren?t paid a salary like most sports, they have to win a

tournament to earn it. From tournament to tournament they are struggling to make

a living by doing what they love. The truth is that there is not a whole lot of

money to be won on tour either. For an example Greg Norman is the top money

winner of all time. Greg has raked in $11,936,443 in his entire career

(Howard,12). Compare that to any other sport and you will see that the average

baseball and basketball players make that within two or three years. Golfers are

also working all year-round. They don?t get to practice during the off-season,

because there isn?t one for them. Golfers work very hard in a very competitive

sport. Other sports are competitive, but not in the same way that golf is. Golf

is an individual sport, so they don?t work with others. They don?t have

anyone to fall back on if they need it, it is all up to them. Other thing that

makes golf so different than other sports is that it doesn?t require that you

are either huge, muscular, fast, or tall. Golf comes down to whether or not you

can hit a little golf ball down a narrow fairway, onto a tightly guarded green,

then to try and put that little ball into a four inch diameter hole. Golfers

aren?t treated the same way that other athletes are. Jack Nickalas, a well

know golfer with out sanding talent, explained ?Professional golfers are

respected for their talents, character, corizma, and integrity.?(McCormick,32)

I myself don?t think that they are paid accordingly, at least not compared to

other sports. I?m not saying that they should pay professional golfers more,

or that they shouldn?t pay other athletes as much as they do(even though what

they make is unbelievable). Now with what pro-golfers are paid they can still

make a decent living, this is because they make plenty of money from

endorsements. From golf balls and gloves, to hats and clubs, members of the PGA

don?t have a hard time with making money on the side. To me it just seems that

the salaries that are made by most professional athletes is outrageous, but then

when you take a look at the money that is made on the PGA tour, you don?t see

outrageousness, just simplicity. Now then for a man to make over a million

dollars on tour he has to win at least four big tournaments. This is also a

contributing factor in how much a man makes on tour; which tournaments he is

invited to. Only the big tournaments pay off big cash, but in order to get to

the big tournaments you have to make a name for yourself in the littler

tournaments. Craig Stadler said that when he started the tour in the eighties,

he was shocked at the difference in the level of play and that ?Getting on

tour is hard enough, but then you have to try to get invited to the big stuff,

that is what really take talent.?(Simpson) Scott Hoch is referring to the

Masters, the US Open, the British Open, and other majors that not everyone is

invited to. Depending on how you have done that year and how you have placed in

all the tournaments that you play in is the deciding factor on whether or not

you can go play in the big dog events. The truth is that golfers don?t have it

rough, but that they have different. Again, they don?t have to be tough,

strong, or large, just competitive and hard working. They don?t have to train

the same way; with weights and running; but have to train and work at their game

on the practice tee or putting green to make it perfect. John Cook has said in

an interview with Sports Illustrated ?We don?t get paid as much as other

sports, and don?t get as much publicity, but God, I would rather be doing

anything else on this beautiful planet.? (Jefferies,65) It is not right how

they don?t make as much but it is just how society has set it up. Professional

golfers still make a good living but their salaries aren?t outrageous like

other sports. They make enough to get them by, and a little extra to help them

live stylish. All in all professional athletes are paid way too much, but they

keep us entertained and give us role models. Golfers aren?t as bad when it

comes to salaries as the others but they deserve what they are paid. I guess if

you want to keep a game respectable you have to keep the salaries respectable

also.

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Bob.?Highest Baseball Salaries.? Assosiated Press 1997: Online. Internet. 30

Sept. 1997. Available: Http://wedge.nado.net/newsroom/ap/bbo/1995/mlb/feat/archive/09309

7/mlb202277.html Howard, Sam. ?Tee time: In the Light of other Astronomical

Sports Salaries, are Larger tournament Purses to much to Ask For?? The

Financial Post 5 Sept. 1997: sec. 3, sports. Jefferies, Parker. "Come Back

City." Sports Illustrated. August 1997: 65. McCormick, Mark. The World of

Professional Golf. Doubleday & Company. New York: 1978. O?Hara, Mike.

?Football: Cap and Salaries Will Rise With New T.V. Deals.? The Detroit News

(1998): Online. Internet. 15 Jan. 1998. Available: Http://www.detnews.com/1998/sports/9801/15/01150085.html

Partinie, Alex. ? Salary Cap for 97-98 Season.? Dallas Morning News 2 Nov

1997. C3. Simpson, Scott. ?All-time PGA Tour Money Leaders.? Money List

(1998): Online. nternet. 23 March 1998. Available: www.golf.com/moneylist/all-time.