If the Yankees spend $180 million on a player but no one comes to the stadium to watch him — if people can’t afford the price of admission — does his play count?
This piece in today’s New York Times takes a look back at what it was like for the national pastime during the Great Depression. One paragraph that particular caught my attention:
Players’ salaries fell by 25 percent on average, yet nearly every team, including the wealthy Yankees, lost money for at least a year or two in the decade.
Remaining free agents aside, can you imagine any of the teams actually cutting a player’s salary these days? A utility infielder barely batting .200 can get a million bucks.
The Amazon report on baseball and the Depression (not that we’re actually in one):
Diz: The Story of Dizzy Dean and Baseball During the Great Depression
Many individual biographies for players of that era discuss the hard times, but, what, no other teams were affected by the Depression enough to warrant a book? Perhaps St. Louis was meant to represent the great American heartland.
is available on Amazon.com,
{ 2 comments }
Don’t forget Charles Alexander’s Baseball During The Great Depression. It’s not without its weaknesses, but it’s a good overview of the events of that decade. My review is here:
http://baseballindc-strattestblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/august-13th-1934-book-review-breaking.html
Very true, thanks. Can’t imagine how that didn’t show up on my Amazon search.
Comments on this entry are closed.