We love money, don’t we? After all, money has the power to make life easier, and more money is generally better. We buy lottery tickets and dream of what we’d do with all that money if we happen to be holding the winning ticket. Money buys comfort, ease, and a lot of nice things when possessed in sufficient quantities. Let’s face it; most of us would do just about anything for a million bucks, right? Well, try wrapping your head around the idea of walking away from $12 million. Yeah, you read that right. I’m not afraid or ashamed to admit that, were I to be walking in Gil Meche’s shoes, I would very likely make a much different decision.
Meche was never a star major league pitcher. A gifted player coming out of high school, he made it to the Show at age 20, only to find his career stifled by a succession of shoulder injuries. With spring training a month away, and facing the diminished capacity of a body that just wouldn’t cooperate, Meche had two choices. One, he could go to spring training with the Kansas City Royals, spend the season hanging around, and collect his $12 million (this is the choice most of us would make, no?). Two, he could admit that, at age 32, it was time to get on with his life and admit that he couldn’t begin to hope to truly earn the $12 million he would earn this season. The Royals were prepared to pay him, and had expressed no misgivings with having Meche in their clubhouse, perhaps in the hopes that he could be a mentor for a very young roster.
Meche ultimately decided on option #2, walking away from $12 million in guaranteed money…because he felt he couldn’t in good conscience take money he felt he couldn’t earn. It’s not very often I’m rendered speechless, but…wow, what person in their right mind would walk away from $12 million dollars? That’s more money than most of us will earn in our lifetimes…and Gil Meche just said “thanks, but I think I’m gonna go back to Louisiana.” How many of us would make the same decision under the same circumstances? I, for one, will guaran-damn-tee you that I would not- could not, in fact- walk away from that kind of money…and I have no problem with owning up to that.
I don’t know whether to praise Meche for his honesty or question his sanity. In the end, though, the only thing that matters is that Meche is able to live with the man in the mirror. In making his decision, he made it clear that doing what he felt to be the right thing was more important than the (veritable boatload of) money. While I can’t begin to say that I’d do the same thing, I do have to admit that it’s hard not to admire someone willing to do what he feels to be the right thing despite taking a serious financial hit in doing so.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some lottery tickets to buy….
