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Joe Morgan's 2 Cents

ESPN's Joe Morgan responds to the increased criticism today's major league baseball players face. I realize he's probably biased being a former player himself, but his arguments do not add up!

He basically defends the players' high salaries by saying that we don't criticize entertainers for making big bucks like we do athletes, that athletes need to make what they can when they can because their careers are so short, and that they big money is the reward for years of dedication to practice and training.

Actors, however often have their final pay directly tied to the box office returns for the movie. Tom Hanks may make $50 from a film, but a huge part of that is a percent of receipts. When do you think we'll see A-Rod take $5 million plus a cut of gate receipts? Plus, Hanks is also pulling double duty as producer often times, putting his own money on the line to finance the film. Invest your cash, take more risk, and you're intitled to a bigger payoff if successful!

Athletes take no risk with their big guaranteed contracts. Only the team owners take the risk in the deal. The player could get injured and not play, you might not draw enough fans to make money. So the owners, who invest the money and take all the risk are the ones losing while the players who take no risk reap in more and more cash!

And the players look greedy when somebody like Jason Giambi has a great, young team full of potential to play for but jumps ship because the Yankees offer $120 million rather than the $91 million the A's offer. Guess he's no longer forced to feed his family Kraft Mac & Cheese anymore! Really, what can one do with that additional $29 million that one couldn't do with the first $91 mil?

The players who I do have some sympathy for are the 36% of players, journeymen and young players, who are making less than $300,000. That doesn't go that far if you only play a couple of seasons, and yet the major sticking points in the labor talks greatly benefit those already making more than entire 3rd world countries.

As for the whole payoff for their hard work through the years, I'd bet than anyone with a college degree has spent more time in school and studying than any baseball player has spent playing and training. So do all college grads deserve those big contracts, too?

If the players do end up striking, they're really going to be in for a big surprise! Teams will go bust, fans won't return, and the players are going to make a whole lot less than today! They may get more of the pie, but it's going to be a tiny little pie! Oh, the folly of ego!