$325 million

[metsbats]

On the cops, etc... getting paid.. their choice of career... they were not born to do it and commanded by God to do it. Kind of like teachers always whining about their salary even they knew for 4 years in college what they were going to be paid. I actually have zero sympathy with career choices especially when that career will pay them and provide health care for the rest of their lives paid for by the tax payers.

On the Stanton salary that is as much our fault as anything. We buy the tickets, the merchandise, watch it on tv, etc.....
We empower this to happen.

100% agree on that! Most of us won't have that luxury. If I had to do it all over again I would have become a fireman, policeman, or teacher.

[godwulf]

There are many different ways of looking at this. We hear about some doofus in Possum Trot, Arkansas winning hundreds of millions of dollars in the Powerball, and we think, "Lucky bastard!" Nobody says, "Well, he doesn't deserve that money!" The guy won a lottery; in a way, Stanton did, too, when you consider that a star player of his caliber needs a certain genetic base to build upon...but it goes without question that Stanton has worked a hell of a lot harder for his money - and will continue to do so for years to come - than the guy who slapped down his two dollars at the Quickee-Mart for a lottery ticket.

As for the teacher/firefighter/cop argument - if you picked any hundred random young people off the street and gave them the necessary training, education and opportunity, you could potentially end up with eighty-five teachers, a dozen cops and firefighters, and three who were not able to cut it at any of those professions. Take those same hundred kids - even limit it to males - and try teaching and training them to be pro Baseball players. You might get a couple who make it to low-A ball.

One more thing - major Hollywood stars. The A-list actors can command salaries in the $10-15 million dollar range, for reciting words and running around in front of a camera for two or three months, while being pampered and stroked and treated like a minor god, and we think that's normal.