Why does AROD sell his equipment????

[kingjammy24]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

"how can you say a person who can afford a game used bat is not a fan?"

i can't. good thing i didn't say it huh?. i said he could price it in a way that typical fans could afford it. i'm not sure how you took this mean me saying that anyone who can afford it isn't a fan.

"if the market will bear a huge price tag then it should be the player that gets a good cut of the money. say a player decides to lower the prices on his game used equipment. what will happen? the dealers will get to it before the fans and jack up the price. then the player will see the prices being way higher and not in the hand of the fans."

agreed.

"if its going to transfer again to the secondary market because prices are low, then the player is not maximizing his opportunity that other will take advantage if the player does not understand the market or feel sympathy for the typical fan."

this is the argument used by many players for refusing autographs or giving items out. they don't want to get cut out of the pie. i suppose that's fine for some benchwarmer who has a very short window of limited earning potential. but if you're an athlete making literally hundreds of millions, do you really care about being cut out of the memorabilia pie? if you sell some guy a bat for $100 and he flips it for $5000 and therefore you've lost $4900, do you really care? i wouldn't. but then again, i guess there are some guys out there who make $28mm a season and stay awake at night worrying about how to make another $100k. it's like having a 300 scoop sundae in front of you and getting angry because 1 scoop fell on the floor and someone scooped it up for themselves.

rudy.

[BMH]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

Didn't see the last one...

Players don't pay for the bats, the teams do. Some do buy their own so they have control over them in regards to collectibles. Arod, Jeter, Griffey, Pujols, and a few others buy their own bats along with receiving bats from the teams.

[BMH]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

Arod doesn't make money off of his game used stuff. That is handled by a relative and is the source of their salary. At least that is how it was explained to me.

BTW,

Maple bats are $78 and Ash are $55.

[flaco1801]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

now if madonna was selling her clothes after each performance she would be like these ball players........... i wonder if arod even pays for his bats.... its the new society "get what ya can"... givebacks? pfft

[5kRunner]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

Even if ARod is making $300 grand for his Game Used/Autographs. We are only talking about 1% of his baseball salary. That like giving the average Joe on the street an extra $500. I'd love and extra $500 but at the end of the day an extra 1% isn't making anyone more "financially stable."

[kingjammy24]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

Rudy- pretty anti anyone with money. Think all athletes, actors and musicians should quit their profession and stay at home till those kids move out of those house?

no. i think that after they've made $300mm, they should spend their free time trying to get more. and more. and more and more. i think making money is the most important thing in life and i don't think you can ever have enough. if arod's got a free hour this weekend, i'll pay him a cool $200 just to put my groceries away. that'll give him $300mm and $200! just to make sure i know it was really him who put them away, i'll tell him to put socks on all the items.

rudy.

[jppopma]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

I agree with Rudy about there being alot of things more important than money. That's just me. While you can focus on players like this who are focussed on money, there are alot of stand up guys out there (as well as entertainers) that do have a great family life and are well respected in the communities. These are the guys who put down roots and turn down the free agency offers to stick around and be something.

At the end of their careers, they can look back and see if it was all worth it for an extra million as compared to missing their kids grow up by playing cross country. Likewise, do they want to be a town hero or just some good player who happened to make a pit stop for a few years.

I also like the point that while to him the bat money is nothing; to his "people" who get their percentage off the sales....that's their whole being. I'd look to them as the root of many of the problems.

[joelsabi]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

if he wants to do something for the fans, he could easily give away a ton of stuff or sell it at rates where typical fans could afford it.

rudy.

how can you say a person who can afford a game used bat is not a fan? if the market will bear a huge price tag then it should be the player that gets a good cut of the money. say a player decides to lower the prices on his game used equipment. what will happen? the dealers will get to it before the fans and jack up the price. then the player will see the prices being way higher and not in the hand of the fans. if its going to transfer again to the secondary market because prices are low, then the player is not maximizing his opportunity that other will take advantage if the player does not understand the market or feel sympathy for the typical fan. also the typical fans does not collect game used equipment. i am the only collector out of all my sports crazed friends and coworkers, excluding the fine members of this forum.

[kingjammy24]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

"Rudy you sure know a lot about how much time he spend with his daughter? Care to elaborate or are you just assuming?"

assuming what? that a guy who plays 138 games a year for the yankees probably doesn't have a lot of free time? it's just "common sense". i can't count the number of pro athlete interviews i've seen where players have said that one of the biggest prices they've paid for their careers is the time spent away from their families. even if he spends 6 months a year with her, wouldn't 7 be nice? i'm simply saying that, at $28mm, being stuck in some room with scot monette and 200 baseballs or taking a walk with my daughter, the choice is pretty obvious. but that's me.

"Also think those prices are just assumptions on the $50,000, just my guess is it is a lot more than that."

so maybe it's twice that. $100k. woopdeedoo. there are only so many 20-room mansions and bentleys you can buy. $100k is nothing more than pocket change for a man who'll have made half a billion dollars before he turns 40.

"How can you tell Arod how to do business and how to spend his time, that is ridiculous."

my mistake. i wasn't aware arod was reading this. i was simply saying that, at $28mm/yr, there's more to life than money. isn't ridiculous making $200 million and concerning yourself with making another $100k? i guess not for some.

rudy.

[AWA85]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

Rudy- pretty anti anyone with money. Think all athletes, actors and musicians should quit their profession and stay at home till those kids move out of those house?

[kingjammy24]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

madonna is worth approx $850mm. she recently divorced and has 3 young children. she began a tour in aug 2008 and will likely stretch it into 2009.
i'm sure her kids will be relieved to know that in exchange for her prolonged absence, they'll all be $200mm richer. much better than having your mom greet you when you come home from school everyday. good thing $200mm buys a lot of nannies.

why? maybe she's just trying to become "financially stable".

rudy.

[flaco1801]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

figure out what he makes an at bat.... he could pass the bat to someone in the stands if he wanted to, or just it to the batboy a few times a year. when i was a kid the batboy made about 8 bucks an hour and they had to stay and clean the equiptment... they are just greedy...

[AWA85]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

Rudy you sure know a lot about how much time he spend with his daughter? Care to elaborate or are you just assuming? Also think those prices are just assumptions on the $50,000, just my guess is it is a lot more than that.

Guess somebody will critique others no matter what. How can you tell Arod how to do business and how to spend his time, that is ridiculous.

[kingjammy24]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

"50k is nothing to sneeze at"

when you're making $28mm/year, not including endorsements, $50k is very much something to sneeze at. he could take $28mm, stick it in something where he's getting 4% a year, do literally nothing and wind up with $1.1mm a year just in interest.

"Imagine the profit capabilities of it though???"

the amounts are completely meaningless for a man who's already made $200mm and likely has another $100mm on the way before his career is over.

"Not sure you can criticize him at all, who would not want to make more money"

there's a trade off between time and money. increasing one will usually decrease the other. it's possible then to reach a point where your free time is worth more than money. arod has reached that point. i imagine he has very little free time. he can opt to spend a few hours sitting in some room with mario or scot monette or whoever, signing boxes of balls and bats and whatever or he could instead spend those hours with his daughter. back when he spent hours and hours at that signing with barry bonds, he couldn't have instead flown his daughter up for the day and spent it skating at rockefeller?

"if you had an chance to make a large sum of money would you turn it down?"

depends what the cost of making the money is. it may surprise you to learn that many people value other things over money and that making money isn't always worth the cost.

"If there is an opportunity to make money why not go for it, common sense!"

it's not common sense. it's short-sighted. making money has a cost. for some, the cost isn't worth it past a certain amount. if i was making $28mm/yr, was away from my daughter for 6 months out of the year, would i spend my precious free time with all this memorabilia nonsense for a ridiculous $50k? no. my free time would be worth more than what amounts to chump change. at the end of it all, arod won't be able to take it with him and the point of it all isn't to see who can be richest guy in the cemetary, to quote mickey's christmas carol.

as for "doing it for the fans", it's hard to believe that when his signing with bonds cost $7500 a pop and MVP sells his bats for $3k-$15k. if he wants to do something for the fans, he could easily give away a ton of stuff or sell it at rates where typical fans could afford it.

rudy.

[joelsabi]

Re: Why does AROD sell his equipment????

I agree about giving stuff away and the image, but the agents / memorable dealers that have connections with players are starting to end that method. With minor league players hooking up with companies, I think the method of giving away bats and things is heading out the door for the most part.

with signature cards and game used cut of players when they are in the minors or on team usa, players who are good now know how much their stuff is worth early in their career. even now some are signing exclusives with companies like lockerroom while still in the minor.

i still think players will still give away stuff at minor league games to fans at the right moment. arod has been known to give away stuff (bats, gloves) during spring training and i know a fan who has received a bat and batting glove from him because he knew she was a true fan.

if you look at his charity work and donations (boy and girls club, university of miami, etc.) arod does give back to his community, way more than he amasses from signings and game used equipment.

There is a demand for his stuff ever since he signed with the mariners and we cannot fault him if he chooses to take advantage of the circumstances. baseball is a sport but it is also a business.