Players, Owners, and Money

[LouGehrig]

Today's older fans enjoy telling young fans how much the old players cared, but that is simplistic. Players cared about winning, but primarily because of money.

http://major-league-baseball.suite101.com/article.cfm/players_owners_and_money

[Honus Wagner Rules]

The idea that modern players are greedy but the old time players played for the love of the game and would have played for free is one of baseball great myths. Players like Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Sandy Koufax. Don Drysdale fought with owners over salary demands or held out.

[blacksilverfan12]

Very interesting article. It seems strange that the players of past generations cared so much about money. I knew about some of the contract disputes (Koufax/Drysdale, etc). I always thought this a more modern thing when you watch today's players. For example, ARod. Apparantly 252 million wasn't enough, so he opts out from the Yankees, only to resgin a week or two later for 275 million :grouchy

As I've said before, it's sad the game we all love is controlled by the dollar bill

[KCGHOST]

If it wasn't for money the game wouldn't exist. It why the owners are willing to invest fortunes to acquire teams. Players invest their lives to make a fortune. Making the fortune comes way ahead of what the fans want. Anytime you find yourself consistently supporting one of these groups you have abdicated your own self interest. No one is going to look out for the fan but the fan. Anything that the Owner or Union does that benefits us is purely coincidental to their pursuit of money.

[west coast orange and black]

"accept certain inalienable truths:
prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old.
and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders."

-from "advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young", chicago tribune, by staff writer mary schmich
(popularized by the song everybody's free (to wear sunscreen)

[Brian McKenna]

It seems strange that the players of past generations cared so much about money.

Really - men didn't have families back in the day? No bills? No worries? No aspirations?

People have cared about money since the concept of currency began. It is not unique to baseball - to sports - to any individual - or to any industry.

Sentimental discussions about baseball are always welcomed. But, don't be clouded by it. Baseball is just a microcosm of society - nothing more, nothing less.

If there was no profit - no one could feed their family.

[bigtime39]

I have never understood the glow of nostalgia that comes from a time when being signed to a Major League contract was the employment equivalent of being taken prisoner. I guess they just get pissed off at players who jump from their team in free agency...after the owners tell them they can't afford to sign the "greedy" player.
The owners are not the game...the players are. I have yet to see someone willing to pay to see the owners do...anything.
In a battle between millionaires and billionaires, you swallow really hard and root for the millionaires.

[DownUnderDodger]

Perhaps in this day and age it is not so much the 'greedy player' as it is the 'greedy player manager'. It seems to me in most professional sports the "Mr Ten Percents" are the ones who throw out the big dollars as a lure and play the "one off against another" game to get the best deal for the player....and themselves. Bit like real estate agents.

[blacksilverfan12]

Really - men didn't have families back in the day? No bills? No worries? No aspirations?

Yeah, I know they did. It just seems strange that they were in it for the money back then, but what else would they play for?

[LouGehrig]

Of course they were in it for the money, but it was a different society with different values. Many kids would have given anything to play major league baseball.

Baseball was THE game in the 1940s and 1950s. Kids in the cities played stickball and if there were empty lots, they played baseball. Football and basketball were secondary.

The owners took advantage because of the reserve clause and the fact that to many players, a baseball salary was better than working in the mines.

[BeatEmBucs]

Of course they were in it for the money, but it was a different society with different values. Many kids would have given anything to play major league baseball.

Baseball was THE game in the 1940s and 1950s. Kids in the cities played stickball and if there were empty lots, they played baseball. Football and basketball were secondary.

The owners took advantage because of the reserve clause and the fact that to many players, a baseball salary was better than working in the mines.

True, but many players did have offseason jobs back then. I think the biggest difference is the gap between the average baseball salary and what an average joe makes. It used to be so much closer. Back then it wouldn't surprise me to see a player take a trolley to the ballpark, I don't think I'll be seeing A-Rod coming in on the 4 train anytime soon.

[Old Sweater]

True, but many players did have offseason jobs back then. I think the biggest difference is the gap between the average baseball salary and what an average joe makes. It used to be so much closer. Back then it wouldn't surprise me to see a player take a trolley to the ballpark, I don't think I'll be seeing A-Rod coming in on the 4 train anytime soon.

This is the part of the game that has changed. JACKIE42 grew up 2 blocks from Ebetts and said he had many conversations with ballplayers on thier way to the ballpark. The link with the common fan grows weaker each year.

[blacksilverfan12]

This is the part of the game that has changed. JACKIE42 grew up 2 blocks from Ebetts and said he had many conversations with ballplayers on thier way to the ballpark. The link with the common fan grows weaker each year.

Wow. That would rarely (if ever) happen now

[Old Sweater]

Wow. That would rarely (if ever) happen now

Yeah, I told JACKIE42 how envious I was. Guy was living in a fans fantasy world when he was a youngster.

[west coast orange and black]

Wow. That would rarely (if ever) happen now
agreed, blacksilverfan12.
felipe alou and rich aurelia are the only two giant-uniformed guys in the past, oh, 10 years or so would walk to work, grabbing a bit along the way, and talk with practically anyone who approached.
one of my favorite things at spring training is that so many of the players and their families stay at the local hotels, and eat right there in the lobby restaurants, chatting it up with passersby.