The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration
So why are ball players paid so much money? Without a doubt, major league baseball is a substantial entertainment business and, as such, dictates big salaries. The same holds true for other professional athletes and for movie stars. Abrams (Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law), a salary arbitrator for baseball and a professor and dean of law at Northeastern University, provides an insider's guide to the economies of the game and the fairness issue of an athlete earning $10 million a year. He illustrates how the system works, how agents negotiate, how arbitration functions, and how the free agency market operates. Considering the players' collective agreement, the distribution of star personnel, plus the competition from other forms of entertainment, the issue of salaries and overpaid players is not as straightforward as most people envision. This is a good read for people looking for answers to free agency and salary arbitration. Notes and a detailed bibliography are included. Recommended for all libraries. (Index not seen.)--Larry R. Little, Penticton P.L., BCCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.