The Green Monster of Greed

By: Erin Dusseault
Posted In: Opinion

As a college student, naturally I am all about pinching pennies. I work two part-time minimum wage jobs and am searching to get a third. Between insurance money, gas, credit card debt and student loans, I can barely find a couple bucks to spend on a fresh Dunkin Donuts’ coffee. Instead I must resort to the coffee served at school.

As a huge baseball fan, I save every dime. I chose to spend that “jar of dimes” to go to my first Red Sox game a few years ago, where I saw all of my favorite players from David Ortiz to Jonathan Papelbon. Games like that one always made me perceive baseball as such a wholesome sport where it was all about the spirit of the game. Boy was I wrong.

After watching the recent headlines of Manny Ramirez refusing and deciding on contract negations, I believe I have seen the ugly, greedy side of baseball. I mean, here I am making a hundred bucks a week working at the local TJ Maxx, if I’m lucky and Ramirez is arguing that he needs a couple more million before he agrees to sign a piece of paper. He finally signed his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a $45 million two-year contract last month.

But is Ramirez, or most players for that matter, worth all that money?

According to Espn.com, Ramirez was ranked third in the MLB based on player’s batting averages, preceded by Albert Pujols of the Seattle Mariners and Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves.

In 2008, Ramirez collected a $20 million salary while Chipper Jones made $15 million. Could this be because more humble Jones isn’t stealing all the headlines like Ramirez is? Jones hasn’t won any awards since 1999 and Ramirez is catching up to his award-less years. He last received the American League Silver Slugger in 2006, right around the peak of his career. So far he hasn’t taken home anything else since, according the Espn.com. And unfortunately, guys like Pujols fly a little more under the radar regardless of his National League MVP title and Roberto Clemente Award in 2008. These are the exact reasons why Ramirez isn’t necessarily worth every penny he is getting.

Professional baseball players make more money than necessary. They receive millions of dollars a year to play a game. In the meantime, the men who run into burning buildings of these multi-million dollar players’ homes are making a small percentage of that salary. According to the 2009 Occupational Outlook Handbook, a fire engineer makes a maximum base salary of $56,045. Maybe if Ramirez took a good look at those numbers, he might reconsider his negotiations.

Now, I am not one to have a bash session, but Ramirez’s wallet isn’t the only thing that is getting bigger as the years go on. His ego increased as heard by a comment made during an interview with Espn.com shortly before his trade to the Dodgers. “The Red Sox don’t deserve a player like me” Ramirez said.

However, most of Red Sox Nation, including myself, are not so upset to see Ramirez gone. In an online poll posted on the Boston Herald’s website last July, readers were asked if they were happy with the Manny trade. Sixty-seven percent answered “Yes, he needed to go.”

While some people think Red Sox Nation needs to let go of its “grudge” against Ramirez, I beg to differ. The Nation isn’t so upset with Ramirez’s decision to move on from Boston to open a new chapter of his career. However, they aren’t too pleased with the way he made his exit. Towards the end of his time with Boston, he was noticeably getting sloppy.

Regardless of which team Ramirez plays for now or in the future, his worth is clearly not equal to a salary. As great as he is, and as much as he has done during his time in Boston, greed unfortunately takes its toll.