The Pecan Park Eagle

The 1927 New York Yankees

That $426.5 million dollar record-in-all-sports contract that 27 year old outfielder Mike Trout signed the other day for 12 years (2019-30) of allegiant effort and service to the Los Angelus Angels of This Galaxy may someday be made to look like a bargain-of-the-week business by some newer, more far-reaching deal! ~ Who knows? ~ All I know about economics comes from a more attached-to-Planet-Earth model of the way currency works in law-abiding circles.

You have to have money ~ or a good line of credit ~ to buy things ~ and you have to understand that cash and credit are not one and the same. ~ Nothing is ever really ours until we give up something to the other party who also keeps their part of the deal by delivering what they promised to give us over some agreed upon period of time in exchange for whatever we put into play in our “value for value” deal.

Revenue Streams. In the early 20th century, MLB clubs had one revenue stream ~ and that was the income that clubs derived from the sale of game day tickets and concessions at the ballparks. Unless your favorite club was the New York Yankees, or a few other perennial big market city teams, there wasn’t much to hang your hopes upon, and, even then, the salaries, except for Babe Ruth, were contained to a reasonable range of figures for most ballplayers. Our chart for salaries earned by the great 1927 New York Yankee starters speaks quietly, but loudly to the point.

Salaries for the Starters of the 1927 New York Yankees

Now skip forward to our toe-stubbing entry into the digital age ~ and all the new revenue streams through electronic media that are out there feeding the appetite for baseball to way more than the few hundreds or thousands of fans that can make it physically to the ballpark, but to the millions and even billions who may want to watch the more democratic pennant race of these early 21st century days by an ever-growing choice list of electronic media connections available today. The projected salaries for the starting lineup of the 2019 Houston Astros speaks clearly to the point. Owner Jim Crane isn’t planning to pay these salaries on ticket sales, peanuts and Cracker Jack. Nor can he be expected to cut back the expense of season tickets and remain competitive at the highest level ~ even with the extra digital stream cash goodies burning brightly on the modern baseball income revenue range. Like all other clubs, the Houston Astros could have cheaper season tickets in 2019, but they could not have this equivalent starting line up as well.

Salaries for the Starters of the 2019 Houston Astros

Some’s Gotta Win! ~ Some’s Gotta Lose!

Season Ticket Owners ~ Get the Blues!

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher