I was a pre-teen in the heyday of the Oakland A's in the early 1970s, and as a result I have these vague yet specific recollections about their players.
I had no idea how Reggie Jackson came to play for the team: that he had been on one of their farm teams in Birmingham, Alabama. Two days ago, at an event there to honor the Negro Leagues, he explained what it was like when he lived there in 1967. That link contains text quotes of what he said, but it also has the short video in a sidebar, which is worth watching.
Reading through Jackson's Wikipedia page, I was reminded of how little baseball players used to be paid. During those years when the A's were winning the American League pennant and then the World Series — and Jackson was the MVP — he earned $70,000 a year, which is less than $500,000 a year in current money.
He went to arbitration in 1974 and got a raise to $135,000 ($845,000 today).
In 1976, when free agency was instituted in Major League Baseball, Jackson asked for a $600,000 three-year contract and was denied it, so he left the A's. By 1977, he was at the Yankees, who paid him $3 million over five years (about $16 million today).
I am not a sports person, and have no great opinions on sports economics, but I know that players have short careers and they should have some power vs. the owners in negotiating their salaries, so free agency was a good thing.
Vida Blue, the 21-year-old pitching phenomenon who lit up the A's 1971 season, helping them win a division pennant for the first time in 40 years, was exploited with a $14,000 ($107,000) salary that year.
Pitchers can end their careers any time, so the fact that the A's owner fought Blue the next year on his salary increase was reprehensible.
It's strange to remember what an Oakland A's fan I was, along with my sisters. Our mom was a baseball fan, going back to the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson, and probably earlier. It didn't stick, but a lot of the knowledge of the game and the names from that era are still with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment