How do you make two completely unrelated stories somehow work together under one blog umbrella: use an image of a giant stack of money! First:

This date in sports history (Via newbie): Twins’ first baseman Kent Hrbek signs a new contract making him the club’s first million dollar player.

That was on Feb. 11, 1985. What nobody knew at the time is that he would be the Twins’ last million dollar player. (Rimshot!) But seriously, we mention this mostly as an exercise in demonstrating (again) just how out of whack salaries have become. According to this inflation calculator, $1 million in 1985 would have been worth just under $2 million in 2008. Does the highest-paid player these days make that much? Of course not. He makes several times that much (Justin Morneau, the highest-paid Twins player, has a deal worth just over $13 million/year. The richest of the rich make twice that much). So that’s what people mean when they say salaries are spiraling out of control.

End rant. Start fun (via avid reader Seigo M.): The Joliet JackHammers have offered former Illinois Governor and huge baseball fan Rod Blagojevich a contract for their upcoming 2009 season. Blagojevich can sign for the JackHammers and be one of the team’s “rookies” on their roster. He will receive a monthly salary in addition to a free host family.

The smart money says Blago will accept and then auction off the roster spot to the highest bidder.

Thanks, we’ll be here all week.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.