MIAMI (AP) — The Marlins persuaded Giancarlo Stanton to say yes. He couldn’t afford to say no. Stanton agreed to terms Monday on a $325 million, 13-year contract, team owner Jeffrey Loria said. It’s the most lucrative deal for an American athlete and averages $25 million per season…. “It’s a landmark moment for the franchise and Giancarlo,” Loria said. The deal includes a no-trade clause, and Stanton can opt out after six years[.]
The idea that a professional athlete might make $25 million per season isn’t exactly breaking news. It’s more common than you might realize. Still, every time I hear a story like this with similar fairy tale numbers, I find myself wondering how our priorities became so thoroughly f——d up. Things must have really gone off the rails somewhere for society to believe that an athlete is worth that kind of money…especially when you consider what they contribute to society. Do they cure cancer? Solve world hunger? Prepare children to face their futures? Protect us from harm? Not exactly….
Frankly, my personal prejudice is that I wouldn’t pay God $25 million per season…but then I don’t believe in God, so what do I know, right?
I don’t begrduge Giancarlo Stanton his success. He’s no doubt worked hard to get where he is, and all he did was agree to the contract terms he was offered. This is not about one individual breaking the metaphorical bank, because Stanton isn’t the first athlete to have that kind of money thrown at him. It’s about a collective value system that seems broken almost beyond repair.
I may be a bleeding-heart Liberal, but I can’t help but believe there are far better uses for that kind of money. How many hungry mouths could be fed? How many homeless people could be sheltered? The list is lengthy and the needs immense; I don’t think it at all unreasonable to question how a baseball player can be worth $25 million per year for 13 years…while teachers, college professors, soldiers, police officers, and social workers too often struggle to get by.
Let’s assume that the total cost of a teacher’s compensation package is $75,000 per year. That may (or may not) be a bit generous, but it works for the sake of this argument. Using that assumption, Stanton’s salary could pay for 333 teachers for 13 years. Think about that for a moment: people who teach and mold our children…or an athlete who tries to hit a leather spheroid with a wooden bat and fails more than 65% of the time? Yes, it’s a simplistic argument; I get that…but it’s not an inaccurate one. It speaks to the truth that as a society, our values are completely out of whack. If you believe that an athlete is worth $25 million per season, but a soldier isn’t…you’re the problem.
Giancarlo Stanton is a fabulously talented athlete; of that there’s no question. That said, his throwing, hitting, and catching skills do little to make the world a better place…except perhaps for Marlins fans on game nights. People will still go hungry, they’ll still be homeless, they’ll still get sick, and they’ll still need to be protected from threats foreign and domestic. $325 million won’t solve all those problems…but it would certain meet a lot of needs.
Then again, I think I says a lot (and nothing good) about us as a society that we value fleeting athletic skills over those who protect us and make our world a better place. Stupid is as stupid does.
