An Overpaid Profession
15 April 2013
An Overpaid Profession The salaries of athletes in professional sports are becoming increasingly high. A salary cap should be instituted in Major League Baseball because it would level out the playing field, lower salaries would increase revenue, and because of this athlete’s personas are becoming inflated. Alex Rodriguez makes $29.5 million dollars a year (Ozanian 26); should a 37 year old who has had hip surgery make that much money playing professional baseball? With the establishment of a salary cap in Major League Baseball, powerhouse clubs like the Yankees, Angels, and Dodgers will not be able to hand out colossal contracts like Albert Pujols’, ten year $240 million dollar contract signed in 2012 (Albert Pujols’ contract). During the last year of Pujols’s contract, he will make thirty million dollars; for someone who has had troublesome injuries at the age of 31, what is to come when he is 41? The New York Yankees have always been in the spotlight of professional baseball when it comes to the dealing of contracts the size of the city itself (two of the highest paid players in 2013), but the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays nearly won a World Series with forty-four million dollars while the Yankees missed the postseason while virtually posting a 210 million dollar team payroll (USA Today salaries). History shows that low income teams can compete in a system were money is given to overrated and greedy superstars. One team proves they can win without having to pay multiple salaries upward of ten millions dollars, a tide may turn and years of seeing hundred million dollar contract signings might soon change. The 2002 Oakland A’s proved they could get the same value out of their players as the New York Yankees did but with only spending a third of what the Yankees did in the 2002 season (Lewis). It shows that there are players that do not stand out to most, but when compared to the superstars their statistics match or are better in some categories.
An Overpaid Profession The salaries of athletes in professional sports are becoming increasingly high. A salary cap should be instituted in Major League Baseball because it would level out the playing field, lower salaries would increase revenue, and because of this athlete’s personas are becoming inflated. Alex Rodriguez makes $29.5 million dollars a year (Ozanian 26); should a 37 year old who has had hip surgery make that much money playing professional baseball? With the establishment of a salary cap in Major League Baseball, powerhouse clubs like the Yankees, Angels, and Dodgers will not be able to hand out colossal contracts like Albert Pujols’, ten year $240 million dollar contract signed in 2012 (Albert Pujols’ contract). During the last year of Pujols’s contract, he will make thirty million dollars; for someone who has had troublesome injuries at the age of 31, what is to come when he is 41? The New York Yankees have always been in the spotlight of professional baseball when it comes to the dealing of contracts the size of the city itself (two of the highest paid players in 2013), but the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays nearly won a World Series with forty-four million dollars while the Yankees missed the postseason while virtually posting a 210 million dollar team payroll (USA Today salaries). History shows that low income teams can compete in a system were money is given to overrated and greedy superstars. One team proves they can win without having to pay multiple salaries upward of ten millions dollars, a tide may turn and years of seeing hundred million dollar contract signings might soon change. The 2002 Oakland A’s proved they could get the same value out of their players as the New York Yankees did but with only spending a third of what the Yankees did in the 2002 season (Lewis). It shows that there are players that do not stand out to most, but when compared to the superstars their statistics match or are better in some categories.
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