My dad, who reads my blog because he has to, gave me a suggestion on what to write about next. “How about the Minnesota Twins, who are moving into a new outdoor stadium for the first time since 1982. Nothing would please Twins fans like hosting the World Series in the first year of playing at Target Field!”

(Keith Allison on Flickr)

His effort to be “just another commentor” and not my dad was poor at best, especially since he used his real last name. Way to go Dad. And yes, you guessed it, he and I share a love for the Minnesota Twins. So rather than bore anyone with a 2010 season preview of the Twins and their chances to make it to the World Series (which I think are pretty good, by the way), I’m going to take a different approach. Let’s talk about Joe Mauer.

The Twins all-star, all-world catcher already has won three batting titles and was named 2009 AL MVP. He has won more batting titles by the age of 26 than all other catchers combined in the history of baseball. Ernie Lombardi won two titles in 1938 and 1942, and Bubbles Hargrave won in 1926.

And now Mauer’s contract is in its final year this season. The Twins have made it clear they are doing everything they can to re-sign him, and Mauer and his agent have made it clear they want to lock Joe in as a Twin for life. Great news for Twins fans and every other fan of teams not named the Yankees or Red Sox. The general contract discussions have been in the 10-year, $20-million-a-year range.

It got me thinking about baseball contracts in general and what the salaries of yesterday’s stars would be in today’s dollars. Now, I love numbers, but this comparison is a little out of my league. Thankfully, there’s a website that does the work for you.

Measuring Worth web site

It breaks down money comparisons in many different ways, but the one I thought was most appropriate was the Share of Gross Domestic Product. This can help determine how economically powerful rich people are. It’s a measurement of how big their wealth is compared to the economy they live in.

So, let’s take a look, shall we?

Babe Ruth

In 1927 for the Yankees, Ruth put together one of the best hitting seasons in baseball history. Three years later, reporters asked Ruth why his salary ($80,000 at the time) was more than President Hoover’s $75,000. Ruth said “What the hell has Hoover got to do with it? Besides, I had a better year than he did.”

1927 salary: $70,000.
His stats: 158 runs scored, 60 home runs, 164 RBI and a .356 batting avg.
Share of GDP salary today: $10,446,215

2009 Yankees player with similar salary: Outfielder Hideki Matsui
2009 salary: $13,000,000
Stats: 62 runs scored, 28 home runs, 90 RBI and a .274 batting avg.

Ty Cobb signs a contract in 1908.

Ty Cobb

Though widely regarded as one of the biggest jerks ever to play major league baseball, Cobb is still regarded as one of the best hitters for average ever. He won an unmatched 11 batting titles while with the Detroit Tigers. “The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that’s it, not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it,” —Ty Cobb. I wonder what he would say now?

1911 salary: $9,000
Stats: 147 runs, 8 HR, 127 RBI, 83 SB, .420 avg.
Share of GDP salary today: $3,736,510

2009 Tigers player with similar salary: Outfielder Curtis Granderson
2009 salary: $3,500,000
Stats: 91 runs, 30 HR, 71 RBI, 20 SB, .249 avg.

Hank Aaron

Until the Stupidity, er Steroid, era, Hammerin’ Hank held the all-time record for home runs in a career. Then Barry Bonds and his ridiculously large noggin came around and passed him. In 1957 with Milwaukee, Aaron won the league MVP award, leading the league in runs, homers, and RBI.

1957 salary: $22,500
Stats: 118 runs, 44 HR, 132 RBI, .322 avg.
Share of GDP salary today: $695,748

2009 Brewers player with similar salary: Craig Counsell
2009 salary: $1,000,000
Stats: 61 runs, 4 HR, 39 RBI, .285 avg.

To say the great players of the past were underpaid is like saying Pluto is kinda far from Earth. I wonder if former players are bitter that today’s mediocre players receive so much compensation. I would be.

By the way, back to Mauer’s contract, here’s how his $20 million a year would compare to the best catchers ever.

Johnny Bench: 1977 salary $220,000 = $1,545,148 in 2009
Yogi Berra: 1961 salary $65,000 = $1,701,144 in 2009
Mickey Cochrane: 1934 salary $40,000 = $8,641,333 in 2009

I still think Mauer’s worth it!

Sources: Baseball Almanac for Hall of Famer salaries

USA Today for current player salaries

As the world-captivating Tiger Woods saga finally has cooled down (thankfully), I started thinking about another superstar who everyone agrees was an equally accomplished philanderer and playboy…

Babe Ruth.

Now, I’m not going to get into a discussion on Woods’ acts, or whose transgressions were worse, Tiger’s or the Babe’s. I think we can all agree that a married man should not be cheating on his wife with one woman, let alone multiple women.

What I find interesting is this question: How would the escapades of the biggest figure in American sports, Babe Ruth, be handled by today’s media?

Simply put: He would have been destroyed. The mythic hero status he enjoyed then, and still does now for the most part, would never have happened in this instant news, internet, and blogging age of sports media coverage.

As legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach said in a 1985 Dallas Morning News article on the topic of media and athletes: “Today’s athletes are under much greater scrutiny. Babe Ruth, in this era, would have been torn to pieces by the media.”

And that was BEFORE the internet!

Now, I don’t think we would have heard all the sordid details of the Babe’s life. Much like Tiger, my guess is the Babe would have been savvy enough to build a PR and marketing empire around himself to develop an image he wanted to portray to the public.

But all it would have taken was one slip up — say a car wreck at 2 a.m. in front of your own house — to allow all the dirty laundry to be aired out.

A lot of people like to say that things were better “back in the day” when we didn’t find out about these things. I don’t subscribe to that. I’m not saying it’s necessary to know about every athlete’s extramarital affairs, because it isn’t.

What I am saying is I don’t want to place a player on a pedestal of hero worship who doesn’t deserve it. I accept that Tiger Woods is human, just as I accept that Mickey Mantle was human along with countless other athletes. I think the typical sports fan is in the same boat.

What we don’t like are phonies and fakes. When an athlete portrays a squeaky clean image that is manufactured, I’m fine with the court of public opinion destroying that image when it’s found to be wholly untrue. We know now that Tiger’s image was the product of great marketing. That image is destroyed.

And frankly, I’m fine with that.

Here’s a link to Sam Blair’s 1985 Dallas Morning News story.

What do you think? Was it better “back in the day” when the media wasn’t so intrusive into the lives of superstar athletes? Comment here, or you can e-mail me at gerry.fey@erickson.com.

(Photo courtesy of the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum)
People often talk about degrees of separation, or the number of people that stand between you and a certain person. Six is usually the number. But this past August there was just one between me and the greatest baseball player that ever lived: Julia Ruth Stevens, daughter of Babe Ruth. Read the full story

By Stephen Turk

When I think of fundamental baseball, I think of the old style of play.  And when I think of the old style of play, I think about hard nosed grinding.  I think of going out there and getting it done any way possible, stealing bases, railroading guys in the base paths, getting whatever foreign substance on the ball that can be gotten away with.  I certainly don’t think about hitting the ball over the fence and keeping the uniform clean.  Down and dirty was the way Ty Cobb played the game, and he was the best.

  Read the full story

By Stephen Turk

Here at the end of the regular season for baseball, we get to see all the season stats! I’m not much of a stat head.  Indeed, the longer I follow sports, the more I learn and see, the less I can really be absolutely sure about.  So when an interesting stat comes about, like how a recent AP article ( http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/09/29/leaders.season.ap/index.html) reports that home runs are down at a 15 year low, my mind goes in about a million different directions to try to explain it.  The article quotes a couple of big leaguers blaming everything from steroids, bigger stadiums, and squishy baseballs.

First and foremost, it could be an aberration.  There definitely needs to be a few more years of lower home runs to think of it as a trend, but as with anything in sports, it’s fun to speculate.  Steroids of course are mentioned, but my favorite quote comes from Torii Hunter mentioning that the game is being played in the old style (he says as a result of the ballparks, but I’m not so sure about that).

As someone with an interest in sports history, I really like that idea, but looking at the stats, which anyone can do at www.baseballreference.com and likely understand more than me, this season has shown that hitting in general is down.  Does this mean that pitching is better?  That steroid testing is taking effect?  That guys are trying to do different things at the plate?  Are the minors different?  Is coaching different?

Read the full story