Philadelphia Baseball History

Last year, three players, Manny Machado, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, signed contracts worth in excess of $25 million per year to play baseball.   When baseball players sign such record breaking contracts, you often hear someone complain about our nation’s priorities, decrying that we value sports stars more than teachers. Of course, paying big money for star players is nothing new in baseball.   In 1925, Connie Mack paid $100,600 so Robert “Lefty” Grove could play for his Philadelphia Athletics.   That would be worth approximately $1.5 million in 2020.   This was the highest amount paid for a player at that time, exceeding even the $100,000 the Yankees paid the Red Sox for Babe Ruth in 1920 (estimates place the value of the Babe Ruth sale between $1.3 million and $1.5 million adjusted for inflation).   The problem, however, is that Lefty Grove received none of that money.   In 1925, Mack paid Grove a mere $6,500 (worth approximately $97,000 in 2020...

Let the whining begin! I just read an article by Jon Tayler casting aspersions on the Phillies for taking advantage of the market to sign Jake Arrieta to a team-friendly deal, and thereby becoming one step closer to making the play-offs. Tayler accuses the Phillies of engaging in that new dirty word in baseball, “tanking.” The word “tanking” has some seriously negative connotations to it. It creates the notion that a team is essentially throwing games in order to play the rules to get high draft picks and more pool money.  But before getting judgmental, consider who this nomenclature helps. It is designed specifically to arouse fans’ emotions, to push their teams to sign high-priced free agents. That’s right, if you are not signing high-priced, then according to certain sportswriters you are tanking. And who does signing high-priced free agents help?  Sports agents. Sports agents negotiate the deals for the players, and take a cut of the salary as their fee. The ...