Baseball is boring, and I don’t care what anybody says, it’s not a sport. I’m not saying that it doesn’t take tremendous skill to perform some of the tasks associated with baseball, but it’s not a sport. Even starters (perhaps with the exception of the pitcher and catcher) probably don’t have to shower after the game. They could wear the same uniform for a week straight and they wouldn’t stink!
So for me, we are drawing near to a very sad part of the year. When the Larry O’Brien trophy and the Stanley Cup have both been raised high by championship teams, we hit the Sahara Desert of the sports year. Baseball, baseball, and more baseball. ZZZZzzzzzz.
No hitters? Two guys playing catch for 3 hours. A “high scoring” game? 20 hits. The reality is that you’ve got a whole bunch of grown man doing a lot of standing around. If I was standing in right field, I’d be hoping that the pitcher gets shelled.
There was a news story recently about the release of DeMarcus Russel by the Oakland Raiders, primarily because of an analysis of his statistics compared to his pay. If you break it down, he made $5 million per win, $2 million per touchdown, and more than $100K per completion. Yes, the stats are pretty appalling because he was such a bust.
I’m no math major, but let’s take a look at some stats for some of the best, highest paid players in baseball who don’t risk much more than a twisted ankle going down the steps into the dugout.
Josh Beckett (Boston Red Sox) was the 2003 World Series MVP and 2007 ALCS MVP. He is considered one of the best, and his pay reflects that. He makes a measly $17 million per year. According to his 2009 stats, he threw 3367 pitches during the season. I didn’t break it all down to balls and strikes, but no matter where the ball went, his pay breaks down to $5050 for every pitch! Wow, I’m in the wrong business.
Hey, at least Josh Beckett is a starter. He takes his turn in the rotation and tries to get in a good 7 or 8 innings. How about Mariano Rivera? He’s a relief pitcher, which means he does even LESS work. He’s a ten-time all-star and has a full hand of World Series rings. Yeah, no doubt, he’s good. So good that last year the Yankees paid him $15 million. As a relief pitcher, he only threw 1028 pitches, which breaks down to $14,600 per pitch!!
Am I being too hard on the pitchers? $15 million? $19 million? That’s peanuts. Let’s take a look at the man who makes $27.5 million a year: Alex Rodriguez. He batted .286 in 2009 with 444 at bats. So if you do the math on that one, he actually managed a hit only 127 times. Are the Yankees getting their money’s worth? In 2009 Steinbrenner paid the famous ARod $216,535 for each trip to first base. And that’s without breaking a sweat!
Okay, last but not least, my favorite, the American League designated hitter (DH). Now, if I was going to be a pro, that would be the position that I would want. You don’t even have to go out on the field and stand around every half inning. You just have to saunter up to the plate 2 or 3 times a game a bat for that guy who’s getting paid $5k or $10k per pitch. Travis Hafner of the Cleveland Indians went to bat 338 times in 2009 and batted .272 which means that he managed 92 hits. The Indians are paying him $14,250,000 per year. As a DH?? Are you serious? At least ARod has to field a grounder occasionally. Hafner, on the other hand, was paid $155K for each hit. Must be nice.
These are the guys who are considered the best in the league, that get hits and pitch well. Can you imagine the break down on the guys that never even set foot on the field?? Think about that next time you’re enjoying a $7 hot dog at a baseball game.
Ahhh, I could go on and on. I’m just jealous because I didn’t play more baseball when I was a kid. It’s easy money. You don’t even have to be in shape! Tony Gwynn put on like 137 pounds during his career and it didn’t hurt him. How can that be?
I’ll leave you with a couple of good quotes that I like:
“I don't know whether you know it, but baseball's appeal is decimal points. No other sport relies as totally on continuity, statistics, orderliness of these. Baseball fans pay more attention to numbers than CPAs." - Sportswriter Jim Murray
"Statistics are about as interesting as first base coaches." - Pitcher Jim Bouton
The NFL preseason can't come soon enough!
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