Posted on 03/01/2019 12:56:05 PM PST by Rummyfan
1956 was my first season as a baseball fan. That year Mickey Mantle had one of the best seasons ever by a hitter. He won the Triple Crown with a batting average of .353, 52 home runs, and 130 RBIs. His on-base average plus slugging percentage was 1.169.
I resisted the temptation to become a New York Yankees fan, opting instead for the hometown Washington Senators. Their star, Roy Sievers, became my favorite player. But I always wondered what it would be like to root for a team with a star having a season like Mantle’s.
In 2015, I found out. Playing for the Washington Nationals, Bryce Harper batted .330, hit a league-leading 42 home runs, and drove in 99 runs. His on-base average plus slugging percentage was 1.109.
Okay, this wasn’t quite Mantle in 1956, and not in terms of fancier stats either. But it was close enough.
And yes, unlike the 1956 Yankees, the 2015 Nationals were a .500ish team. But Harper’s Nats won four division titles in his seven seasons here. The Nats never had a winning season before he arrived.
Today, Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. The deal is 13 years for $330 million. Months ago, the Nats offered him $300 million for 10 years. Harper made out marginally better by rejecting that offer and testing the market.
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
I grew up outside Philly, and have loved the Phillies since the60s. Their second baseman was Tony Taylor, a very solid p!Ayer who would make millions today. He drove an oil delivery truck in the offseason.
And if they could have stayed reasonably healthy, they had a couple of World Series contenders in that run. But they can't stay healthy, and now the pitching -- their strong suit when they started to be good -- has to be rebuilt. If Max Scherzer goes down … I don't even want to think about it. Strasberg is an ace when he's healthy, but he's a Nat. He can't stay healthy. Bottom line, for the kind of money Harper was demanding, the Nats are better served by patching some other holes, building quality depth, and rebuilding the pitching staff. If Scherzer could pitch every game, it would be a different calculation, but not even Max can do that.
The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn is a great book about the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 50s.
Good for him but bad for the fans of the Phillies who are going to have to pay his salary.
Last summer I was given 4 tickets to the Tigers, 11 rows up from the first base dugout. Those tickets cost $75 each and were given to me by a season ticket holder..........
There's no way in hell I could or would have paid for one of those seats on my own.........
I took my sister, my niece and her son who probably enjoyed the game but I was bored out of my mind.........Last game I'll ever watch in person.
Keepin’ an eye on this guy from across the river from Philly - he looks like kind of a prima donna/hotdog to me - will be interesting.....
A lot of money spent for continued success. They could have found a lot of young players to develop for less than they spent.
I saw many of Mickey Mantle’s games in the 1950’s including his 1956 MVP season. Bryce Harper does not compare to Mickey Mantle.
Desmond turned down the same offer for a one year at the rangers. He personally told me face to face the management sucked and the city was not where you wanted to raise a family. Said if he lost money so be it.
At age 36, he likely wouldn’t be able to make up the other $30M.
Note that the Dodgers offered Harper $45 million per year on a 3 or 4 year basis.
Wow he’d have paid 6 mil a year in Calif income tax
Peter Angelos was - is! - an idiot for getting rid of Johnson.
Also some heart-breaking soul-crushing playoff losses.
Deferred money should have some income tax benefits by spreading the income out over several years.
“13 years for $330 million.” Wrong and unethical.
Sadly, Harper gets booed in every stadium and yes, he deserves to get booed for many reasons: yelling at umps, fake joy in another’s accomplishment, and permanent scowl on his mug.
Everyone loves Trout. I wish Mike Trout would go play in Philadelphia with Grandal, Nola and Segura. The Angels cannot afford a supporting cast for Trout. Moreno the owner is like the Tigers: spend big and lose. Pujols and Hamilton are still stealing from the Angels.
13 years. Wow. The Phillies are stuck with a repulsive guy for many years.
Okay, thank you.
I wonder if the other guys were doing something along those lines too.
Thanks for pointing that out to me.
I don’t honestly know how teams can afford these prices. They must get a bundle from the networks.
That’s pretty good too.
One person brought it to my attention, that the contract he just signed addressed revenue to exceed $100 million in total, some of it more media related than on the field.
That’s pretty impressive if it plays out.
Apparently the Dodgers are getting over 200 million dollars per year from the networks.
That’s very impressive.
They’re getting twice what the Yankees are.
Only one other team is getting more than half what they are, and the Dodgers have left them in the dust.
The Dodgers do a very good job of filling the seats. (That opinion is dated. I haven’t followed them much in recent years.) Still, a Dodger stadium game is still considered a great outing.
Thanks fro the link. Impressive numbers there...
And the Dodgers lost the series. Yikes...
“The Angels cannot afford a supporting cast for Trout.”
Ohtani-san
Andrelton Simmons
Pujols is still siphoning off a lot of money but Moreno’s ridiculous Hamilton contract is over.
Someone figured out how to keep Moreno from messing with baseball operations so the Angels finally have a chance.
When I saw Harper’s 13 year contract the first thing I thought of was Arte Moreno.
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