Pro Athletes Forego Millions . . .

Pro athletes, I know your secret. Julio Franco told me.

He didn't tell me directly. I haven't interviewed him since 2003 and at the time we only talked about baseball in Puerto Rico. No, a Memorial Day spent watching him hit cleanup for the Fort Worth Cats gave it away.

I long considered Franco one of my favorite hitters to watch. It seemed impossible that the man's exaggerated stance could produce sufficient timing and bat speed to turn big-league fastballs into doubles. Franco did it remarkably well into his forties.

 With the exception of short detours to Japan, Korea, and Mexico, he spent most of his baseball=playing years drawing a major league paycheck. Baseball Reference estimates he made more than $25 million over the course of his career.⁽¹⁾ But here's the secret : he would have done it for less - a lot less.

I know this because I watched him play for the Cats. No independent league pays entourage-worthy salaries, but at age 55, he decided he wanted to take some swings in one. He'll do some coaching, too, but I can't imagine he would have taken the deal without the at-bats. He wanted to hit. And when he looked visibly upset after popping out with men on base, you knew he still truly cared about hitting.

Another giveaway? I also care about hitting. Okay, not enough to actually take lessons or go to the cages. But I do pay money every year to hit (or, more specifically, to ground out) in a recreational softball league. Admittedly, I haven't paid up yet this season, but I swear I will bring my checkbook to that last game next week. Really.

The point is that every athlete except those in the pros and on full scholarships doesn’t just take a low salary to play. We pay to participate in sports. We do it because we like it. Sports are fun.

As a kid, my main complaint about my YMCA baseball league was that we didn't get to play enough games. I would have happily played doubleheaders every day and then gone and played basketball, soccer, and table tennis after the 18 innings. Admittedly, I had an underdeveloped appreciation for what my parents would have had to do to drive me to all these games, but kids focus on the fun.

And I didn't even love it enough to put in the off-field work I would have needed to squeeze another level out of any talent I might have had. So it stands to reason that the pros must love it at least as much as those of us who have paid to play.

We even willingly hazard injury, an outcome whose likelihood increases with age. Professional players assume injury risks, too. Certainly any team or league that knowingly provides players false information about injury exposure deserves severe rebuke, but what makes such deception extra frustrating is that many players would have likely continued to play even with full knowledge of the consequences.⁽²⁾ They love it that much.

So we know players would play for less money because Julio Franco does, and because we all do. Players have insightfully set up unions that help them resist such impulses, and willingly accept their shares of the industry's subsidies from politicians and oligarchs. But before the last forty-some years, athletes mostly played for whatever the owners would pay them. They did so because the alternative was to go into a career that wasn't sports. The alternative was to play less. If sports makes you happy, and your choice comes down to money or happiness, a lot of people choose the latter.

We see similar outlooks toward psychological, as opposed to monetary, compensation in other professions that inspire passion. I can tell you from first-hand experience that list includes writing, music, and the business side of sport.

Certainly as long as big-league athletes’ performances continue to entertain millions of people, they will have the clout to earn sizable salaries in the marketplace. But if sports ever did exist in a truly free market, it would be interesting to see how low those minimum salaries would drop. That they would, in fact, find a lower floor is no secret. I know - Julio Franco told me.

Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns and related creative projects for sports entities through his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.

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Footnotes

⁽¹⁾ “Julio Franco,” Baseball-Reference. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/francju01.shtml (accessed May 26, 2014)

⁽²⁾ Brooke De Lench “Athletes' Resistance To Self-Reporting of Concussion Continues Despite Increased Education,” MomsTeam.

http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/athletes-resistance-to-self-reporting-concussion-continues-despite-increased-education (accessed May 26, 2014)