Keeping it all in the family....
The Detroit Tigers have added one big—in every way—bat by signing former Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder to the
largest contract in franchise (Tigers) history. The son of Cecil “Big Daddy” (not the Tennessee Williams variety—from the
Madeleine Sherwood vehicle, which also features Elizabeth Taylor, whose remarkable Christie’s auction exhibit I [Evander] viewed, and Paul Newman) Fielder, Prince should have few problems rekindling the legendary family magic in Motown. On an annual basis, the nine-year, $214 million (I had heard another report of $217 million), budget-buster would make Prince the fifth-highest annual earner currently in Major League Baseball.
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About rightoffthebatbook
Co-author of the book, "Right Off the Bat: Baseball, Cricket, Literature, and Life"
$214, $217…what’s $3 million between friends? But seriously, folks, what kinds of salaries to the elite cricket players haul in and is there the same hand-wringing in those nations over such astronomical figures as there is in the U.S.? Fielder, Pujols, et al will get those paychecks even if (when?) their performances slowly (or quickly) drop off (see Jaysons Werth and Bay and Adam Dunn, who may just be) while large numbers of their fellow citizens find it a struggle to meet their mortgage payments.
Pay for players in the IPL can be quite high. One baseball school of thought goes, “It’s not my money.” We’re sure cricket fans, by and large, would agree. There will always be questioning whether Werth (to take this example) is worth it, whether Bay has already gone out with the tide, or if Dunn is as you write. But for the most part, fans of big-time players crave big-time entertainment. The contracts themselves are all part of the spectacle.
Hmm, contracts as spectacle sport?