A comparison that demonstrates the absurdity of major-league baseball salaries

AlwaysWrite

Addicted Member
Baseball salaries have reached ridiculous proportions in the modern-day era, and the comparison of two Baltimore Orioles players -- Frank Robinson and Chris Davis -- clearly demonstrates the absurdity.

At the halfway point of the current season, Davis is batting an anemic .152, and he has only 7 home runs and 24 runs batted in, yet he's the beneficiary of a $21,118,782 yearly salary, or $130,362.85 per game. And he's one of the main reasons why Baltimore has the worst record in major-league baseball at 23-58.

On the other hand, Robinson received $64,000 from the Orioles during the 1966 season, but consider what he did for that money: He won the American League triple crown (.316 BA, 49 HRs, 122 RBI), and he also led the league in runs scored, on-base percentage, slugging average and total bases. Further, he was the AL's Most Valuable Player, and he was MVP of the World Series, leading the Orioles to the championship.

So what salary did Robinson get the following season? As ridiculous as it sounds by today's standards, he was paid $100,000. Keep in mind that Davis earns more than 211 times as much, and his single-game earnings surpasses Robinson's full-season pay, and in fact, the highest-ever yearly salary received by Robinson during his stellar Hall of Fame career was $160,000.

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AlwaysWrite

Addicted Member
AND A HOT DOG AND A BEER WAS $.25. THE FANS ARE AT FAULT, NOT THE PLAYERS.
… but the fans just pay what the owners need to charge in order to pay those players, most of whom don't come close to earning their ridiculous paychecks.
 

AlwaysWrite

Addicted Member
BUT IF THE FANS STOP GOING...NO MORE MONEY.
Dear WAMO:

True … but even though the price(s) of virtually everything has increased greatly over the decades, is it even within reason that Chris Davis -- a real chump in comparison to Frank Robinson -- should be "earning" (if you can call it that) more than 21 times as much salary as a true Hall of Famer and winner in every sense of the word?
 

AlwaysWrite

Addicted Member
NOT THIS YEAR, BUT CHRIS DAVIS HITS HOME RUNS. THATS WHAT PEOPLE PAY TO SEE.
… but the original post compared the performances and earnings of both Robinson and Davis, and even though Davis has a past-performance history of home-run-hitting ability, he has been NOWHERE NEAR as good as Robinson in most categories, and that includes home runs.
 

WAMO

Spanking His Monkey
TRAIN OF THOUGHT AW. IF ROBINSON HAD BEEN PAID $1M A YEAR, CHRIS DAVIS WOULD BE MAKING $41M NOW. IF ROBINSON WOULD HAVE BEEN PAID $10,000 A YEAR, DAVIS MAY ONLY BE MAKING $5M A YEAR. SO YOU CAN BLAME ROBINSON FOR TAKING MORE MONEY. MOST PEOPLE ARE NEVER PAID WHAT THEIR WORTH, IT MIGHT HURT THEIR FEELINGS.
 

AlwaysWrite

Addicted Member
It's pure speculation, of course, but what do you think a player with Frank Robinson's ability and statistics (at the peak of his career) would make on today's Major League market?

In your OPINION, what would (or should) a player earn in salary a season after leading the league in batting average, home runs, RBIs, runs scored, on-base percentage, slugging average and total bases -- and not only that, if the player was league MVP and World Series MVP?
 

WAMO

Spanking His Monkey
LET ME START BY SAYING, NO PLAYER IS WORTH $21M. I DONT CARE WHAT THIER STATS ARE, EVER. MOST CONTRACTS ARE WRITTEN BASED ON PAST PERFORMANCE'S, NOT A 1 YEAR STREAK. ITS VERY HARD FINDING SOMEONE WHO CAN REPEAT THOSE STATS YEAR AFTER YEAR, SO WHATS THAT WORTH, I CANNOT ANSWER THAT. WAY TO MANY VARIABLES.
AND NOT TOTALY OFF BASE, SO TO SPEAK :Biggrin:, I DONT LIKE PAYING $3.50 FOR A GALLON OF MILK EITHER. SO DO THEY EAT BETTER GRASS?
 

AlwaysWrite

Addicted Member
LET ME START BY SAYING, NO PLAYER IS WORTH $21M. I DONT CARE WHAT THIER STATS ARE, EVER. MOST CONTRACTS ARE WRITTEN BASED ON PAST PERFORMANCE'S, NOT A 1 YEAR STREAK. ITS VERY HARD FINDING SOMEONE WHO CAN REPEAT THOSE STATS YEAR AFTER YEAR, SO WHATS THAT WORTH, I CANNOT ANSWER THAT. WAY TO MANY VARIABLES.
Dear WAMO:

I'm not saying what any player is worth, or what you think of any player's worth. I just asked what YOU THINK a player with a season such as Robinson had in 1966 WOULD MAKE in today's major-league market.
 

Greg T.

The Jizz Slinger
It's not my intent to bring a political tint to this conversation, but I have to believe there are two major contributors to the excessive salaries. One is collective bargaining, and the other is oneupmanship. A player has good numbers, teams want him/her, and the union and agent take over. Back in the day if a player could make a living without having a second job he was doing extremely well. All pro sports is this way, and you can't really blame the players. If someone offered me an insane amount of money to play a game I'd be a fool to turn it down. BUT, what happened, as always, entitlement mentality took over and agents and unions became involved. Had the owners pushed back instead of caving to the thought of not having a certain player there would not be a problem. But as always, someone is willing to pay for the stats.
 
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