Do baseball fans have a right to complain about baseball players’ salaries?
I always seem to hear baseball fans complaining about how much money a baseball player is making and how they don’t deserve it, etc. I’ve heard both sides to this, and I have my own opinion…but I’d like to know…what do other baseball fans think? Do you have a right to be upset about baseball players’ salaries? Or not?
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I really dont have a problem how much a guy makes, but what does bother me is when young guys try and ask for a raise and they have only been in a league for less than 3 years
Hey, they earn their share. Nobody said it was fair when compared to your average American individual salary, but they can do things that most of the world cannot. In addition, they’re not even profiting the most from league success! The owners are! Although the strike in 94 was painful, people have to remember that it is a business, and just like with any other company, the employees have rights. For the past four decades or so, the players have built themselves up to a more than respectable status and have achieved unheard of power in terms of professional athletes. I know that I expect to be compensated fairly for my labor, and MLB players are no different.
Good question.
You have the right to complain, and the means to show it most effectively: don’t get tickets, don’t buy merchandise, don’t watch Sunday Night Baseball, etc.
Yeah, the money is incredibly stupid for hitting a fvcking bit of leather round. But, that’s the world we live in.
Leon [Orioles fan]
Chesterfield, England
There’s no reason they should be making as much as they do. Especially more that their managers. Do you make more than your boss?
What makes it worse are players that whine about their salaries in public.
Papelbon lost a few points with me this week. The little whipper snapper should just keep his mouth shut and be happy he’s in the big leagues.
I’m mad about fielders new contract. He went from 450k to 650k. How much of an improvement is that. He deserves a better one aftere how good he was last year. He was what made the brewers. They are gonna end up loosing him in free agency and it’s gonna piss me off. Now overpaying thats a different story.
Just as it is in every other business the employer compensates their employees according to their market value and contribution, and baseball is no exception. It is not our place to challenge, or even be concerned, how the owners of these teams choose to compensate their employees. As fans, our job is to support our teams and in doing so we can enjoy some of the most unbelievable athletes in the world.
DEFINITELY Come on players DON’T DESERVE THAT MUCH MONEY!!!! Id say 20 million a year is max. The players play like maybe 120-162 games. Making over 20 million a year is outrageous. if you play 10 or more seasons that’s over 200 million dollars whats an MLB player gonna spend that money on??
Yes, it’s called freedom of speech. It is guaranteed to us by the first amendment to the constitution.
The reality is that no one on this planet is worth the money paid to professional athletes. When we look at the market value of all professions we would like to think that doctors and people of creativity have the most value. Unfortunately as long as there are people, and there are many, who live their lives through others, (fantasizing their non existent athletic prowess) and willing to pay outrageous prices to see these athletes perform, they will continue to make ridiculous salaries.
As far as the athletes are concerned, good for them. For many decades the owners were making fortunes off the blood sweat and tears of the ballplayers while only paying them blue collar wages.
sure we have the right to complain. because without any fans players don’t get paid because people won’t come to games, and TV won’t broadcast them. example: Alex Rodriguez is an AMAZING player but asking for 300 million is entirely too much for any one to be asking for. I don’t care how good you think you are or how good you are.
they do make a lot, but then i kno i cant live w/o baseball, so im ok with it
I definitely think fans have every right to complain about the salaries some baseball players make. It directly effects the ticket prices we, the fans, pay to see our favorite players/teams play, the merchandise we purchase, the hotdogs and beverages we consume…with rising costs of production, so rises the cost of the service/good.
The amount of money some players make is absurd, but what concerns me is that it makes it more difficult for teams that are small market franchises (approx. $40-$70 million payrolls) when larger market teams continue to set the bar for what these players want for compensation. Occasionally, we see small market teams like the Marlins make it to the big show and win a World Series. But what happens the following year? More often than not, a firesale, and the fans of these respective teams are back to square one.
As a fan of many small market teams, I spend my hard-earned money rooting for players who come up from the farm and dazzle everyone, then a big market team comes in and offers a tantalizing big payday and steals these players away in their prime. Of course, it’s a business. But as a season ticket holder I feel like I should have some say in how a team is run…in a small way I am a shareholder (not legally, obviously).
In summation, yes, I, you, that guy/girl sitting next to you, and Bob down the street all have a right to gripe when what used to be America’s pastime is slowly passing many American’s by with rising costs.
I think professional athletes are grossly overpaid. As are actors and all other people in the entertainment business. It is a little sad that we live in a society that people in entertainment make more money than teachers, cops, people in the military and even the President of the United States. If these athletes didn’t make so much money we wouldn’t have to pay so much for a game. And if these athletes didn’t get 5 year contracts for $15 million a year maybe they’d actually play harder each year to earn a raise that is determined on their performace.
I personally don’t have a problem with player salaries, but I do respect and somewhat understand why some people would be upset. Through ticket and concession prices from going to games, cable TV rates to watch the games on TV, etc, those fans contribute to paying those salaries.
well, they do work really hard at what they do.
i mean they train, they play the game almost everyday. most have families to take care of… so they do deserve the money they are getting.
BUUUT.. it just gets me frustrated when they complain or when they ask for sooo much more.
i know a-rod is one of the best players in the game right now and when ur good u get ur money but he is one human being. even if we just cut his salary in half. that money could be going into .. oh i dunno something else that’s a little more important.
now number 1 we pay the tickter prices and buy the merchandise not to mention needing to take out loan to buy a beer at a ball game
2 we see it as game we all playe din little league as kids for free but these guys ee it as job this is not a hobby for them its how they feed there families and careers in sports for the most part are very short
yes because that is our money going to the players. does ANYONE really need to make $25,000,000 A YEAR when there are starving people all over the world, and people dieing of diseases that we don’t have answers to!
I do think everyone has a right to complain….but there is an old saying….you are worth what you can get. If A-Rod can get 300 million then he is worth it. Why is he worth it? Because the owner that can afford to pay him his salary knows that he will bring him that many times over .
It’s the owners who are lining their pockets…especially the small market teams that prey on the hearts of their loyal fan base and keep their payrolls low and suck up the money from the luxury tax just to make a little more.
All I can say is obviously all that talent can accumulate a great deal of money. But regardless of what they make, it’s still just a game.
Yeah, a little bit. The difference between want and need is increasing and there are a lot of homeless people that need the money. Of course, I know some players do lots of charities, but some just have to much money that can go to the homeless or to charities. If YOU YOURSELF want a free way to help people across the world, go here:
I have no problem with the players salaries but some fans will always say otherwise about certain players, but the thing I wonder about the people who complain about a baseball player’s salary, do they complain about what a movie actor like Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks or Denzel Washington make per movie if they make 2 movies a year, it’s more than most baseball players. If you have a problem with player’s salaries, going to the games, buying clothing with your team’s logo on it, baseball caps, etc. that is contributing to the owners who make the $$$, then play the players.