I played with the Birmingham Black Barons. I was making 500 at 14. That was a lot of money in those days.
In that case Mr. Barrow, Mr. Gehrig is a very underpaid ballplayer.
I came into the game when I broke into the major leagues, the minimum salary was seven thousand dollars, and I'd have to go home in the wintertime and get a job.
Today, you hit .230, and you get a million and a half and think you're underpaid.
My first year in the big leagues, I made $17,000. It was easy to go out and get another $17,000 relief pitcher. I never worried about innings or pitches. I just pitched.
Playing baseball for a living is like having a license to steal.
A comparison of the average professional baseball salary to the national average salary over the last one hundred years shows that for the first fifty years, 1920-1970, baseball players held a steady multiple of about 3.4 times the national average income.
I kept thinking, 'this must be the coolest job - I'd like to be a professional baseball player.' They were getting paid to play a game, and what a cool lifestyle that was.
I wanted to be a professional baseball player.
I went through baseball as 'a player to be named later.'
Never drew a paycheck outside of baseball.
