Major League Baseball Salaries: How Much is Too Much? Essay -- Argumen

Major League Baseball Salaries: How Much is Too Much? 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. Others associated with baseball do not see any problem. All businesses are entitled to the best employees they can afford. If the owner wishes to pay larger salaries, then he/she is at liberty to do this because he/she is in charge of the operations of the business. Baseball is no different. If New York Yankees’ owner, George Steinbrenner, chooses to spend $125 million on players’ salaries each year, who will stop him? If Minnesota Twins’ owner, Carl Pohlad, decides to only spend $25 million on players’ salaries, who tells him to spend more? The answer of course is nobody, because baseball is a business. Each franchise is run by an individual owner who makes the business decisions. Compared to long ago, baseball has transformed from being the sport people have a passion for to an egotistical business of super-agents and ten million dollar players (azcentral.com). This essay will introduce the situation that Major League Baseball is in with regards to its players’ salaries. It will also describe how the salaries escalating at the rate they are is hurting the game overall by pushing the fans awa... ...ball itself. Works Cited Holahan, William L, Kroncke, Charles O. â€Å"A Pedagogical Note on Baseball Stadium Economics: ‘Show Me the Money!’ † Social Studies Jan/Feb 2003: 44-45 Rosenthal, Ken. â€Å"Look What Happened to the Big Boys.† Sporting News 14 Oct. 2002: 47-48 Stein, Lisa. â€Å"Let’s Play Hardball.† US News and World Report 15 Apr. 2002: 14 Twenty-five Highest Paid Major League Baseball Players. 12 May 2002. Arizona Republic. 25 March 2003 http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/ top25salaries2002.html Verducci, Tom. â€Å"Conspiracy Theory.† Sports Illustrated 10 Jan. 2003: 22 Wilson-Smith, Anthony. â€Å"The Unsporting Life.† MacLean’s 17 Feb. 2003: 4 Baseball Salaries Database. 11 November 2002. USA Today. 25 March 2003 http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/default.aspx Kurson, Ken. â€Å"The Baseball Fallacies.† Esquire April 2001: 110