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As a kid, I didn't give a rat's ass how much money baseball players took home. There was no free agency. Contracts were simply mailed to the players in December or January. The players, upon receiving the contracts, would put their John Hancock on the contract and send it back. Few players had multi-year contracts, usually just the stars, and few players held out for more money.
The owners ruled baseball. They were happy. As the fan base grew larger by a large percentage, the contracts increased to the players by a much smaller amount.
The players were happy. It was a working man's America. These players did not have to bolster their take home pay with another job as the generations before them did. They were being paid more than the working man to play a game. A game they loved.
The fans were happy. Except for trades, they knew each player who was coming back to the team. 'Wait till next year' meant something. Because fans knew who would be on that team next year.

Of course, all that is gone now. Blame it on progress. Blame Marvin Miller. Blame the owners. It doesn't matter.
It's a different game now.
No matter what big business is run on a day to day basis in America, now, all of them, including baseball, share one aspect.
The lawyer type. These fellas have become intertwined with every large concern in America.
As Yogi would say, 'They've made themself useful'.
Baseball is no different.

In baseball, the lawyer type is the agent.
Players salaries have gotten so huge that they willingly give this man ten to 15 percent of their salary.
I'm just a stiff, but I laugh hard to myself when thinking about this concept.
I do.

Some players are level headed with their agents and their future.
Cliff Lee was thought to be headed to the Yankees or back to the Rangers after pitching the Rangers to the World Series. His agent, who is a friend of his, kept him updated with bids. The bids got as high as over 150 million dollars from the Yankees.
Lee went on a hunting trip with his agent buddy. They talked and Lee said how much he liked his experience in Philadelphia and his agent listened. He called the Phillies and asked them if they would be interested in Lee with a discount. They jumped and Lee is now a Phil. Lee picked a place where he'd be happy over 30 million dollars.
His agent took took a hit in the wallet, but he made a friend very happy.

Ryan Madson could have gone to the Phils front office after last year and said, 'Look, I like it here. I'm your closer, I've established that. I'd like to stay here for three years and get 35 million, whaddayasay?'
Instead, his lawyer type closes the door with the Phils and the Phils sign Papelbon, instantly reducing Madson's worth.
Madson's lawyer type is Scott Boras.
Boras and Madson then go hat in hand to each team till Madson is signed by the Reds for around nine million...for ONE year.
And the helluvit (shuddup spell checker, they know what I mean!) or amusing part to me is that Boras gets one million dollars of that contract for losing Madson money!
So, Madson gets eight million dollars.

Another Boras client, Johnny Damon, thought that a return to Tampa was a given.
He waited.
They signed Luke Scott. Damon is hat in hand now.
Edwin Jackson commanded 16-17 million for a multi year contract at the outset, he'll be lucky to get Madson money
Prince Fielder was thought to make 'Pujols money' when the off season started. Now, that has become a contract of lower expectations.
Scott Boras is a one trick pony bargainer. A trick that has his clients playing the waiting game. A losing game now.
A trick that worked when the Yankees and Red Sox were flush and played into Boras hands. Now, the recession and luxury tax have hit and is hurting everybody, especially Boras' clients.
These players will lose money and all give Boras part of theirs for the privilege.
They may have been better off getting a contract in the mail and signing.

These players owe the lawyer types a lot.
Without them, they didn't know how severely underpaid they were.
But of course, now, each shares their salary with these fellas.
In a lot of ways, it sounds like the making a Rod Serling script.

What I've always found interesting is when a player appeals to the fan base, that's he's just trying to get fair money from the team's owner. It's not 1:1 in any given year, but bigger salaries equals bigger ticket prices.

So when a player tells his "fans" that his $5 million/yr salary isn't fair, that he should get at least $8 million/yr, he's really telling those fans (who on average probably make about $40,000/yr) to dig a little deeper because he needs more money to play a game and be famous while they sweat it out in a shitty job.

Good stuff. Amazing how the times have changed. I remember Mike Schmidt being the highest paid player in the game when he was in his prime, at $2 million per year. Now you've got scrubs, bench warmers, and has-been's making more than that. Reminds me of the line from the movie "Wall Street".... "You see that building over there? I bought that building 10 years ago, sold it a year later and made $800,000 profit. At that time, I thought it was all the money in the world. Now, it's a day's pay."