An Argument Against High Salaries in Major League...

An Argument Against High Salaries in Major League Baseball Twenty-five million dollars made per year. Over one hundred fifty-four thousand dollars made per game. Over forty-seven thousand dollars earned per at bat. Sounds a little ridiculous, does it not? That is what current Texas Ranger shortstop Alex Rodriguez earns to play the game of baseball (azcentral.com). Baseball is a game that children have been playing in schoolyards and fields for the past one hundred years. It may not be a game anymore. On the Major League level it has become a business. This is where the problem starts. There are twenty-five players who make more than ten million dollars per year, a price that, ten years ago, only two†¦show more content†¦The statistics from 1975 show that the average salary was just over $44,000, quite comparable to a successful business CEO at the time, while the minimum earnings were $16,000, an amount that equated to $8.00 per hour had they been working a typical job. Players making that much at the time were more than likely to hold an off-season job to supplement their income. Lastly, the highest-paid player was Dick Allen of the Philadelphia Phillies making $200,000 per year, quite outstanding at the time (Stark). Jayson Stark, ESPN columnist, presents an interesting argument of the downfall of baseball after free agency. He uses sarcasm and slight humor to introduce the reader to the topic of free agency and uses the argument style of comparison and contrast to predict what today might have held had there been no free agency. But within his column, player agent Tom Reich states, â€Å"The people who criticize free agency to easily today don’t realize how bad baseball was twenty-five years ago† (Stark). It is Stark who realizes that the talent of the game has improved, but the overall passion in each player may have decreased. In a recent poll, football has been voted by the fans to be the new pastime of America. 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