Will The Player's union do SOMETHING for first responders?

[ewen21]

Why not?  Afterall, they will get their guaranteed money and millions where millions of other Americans will not.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/2020/

 

Above is a list of the salaries due to players from their respective teams.  Without crunching the numbers, that looks to me to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 billion dollars due to players this year before taxes.  Why can't the union find it inside themselves to donate 1% of that helping first responders and their families (or something in relief of this crisis)?  

[TFRazor]

 

Why not?  Afterall, they will get their guaranteed money and millions where millions of other Americans will not.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/2020/

 

Above is a list of the salaries due to players from their respective teams.  Without crunching the numbers, that looks to me to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 billion dollars due to players this year before taxes.  Why can't the union find it inside themselves to donate 1% of that helping first responders and their families (or something in relief of this crisis)?  

What makes you think they aren't? I'm sure some players have probably donated a significant amount.

[biggentleben]

So far, from my estimation, individual players have donated over a million dollars toward first responders and over a half-million toward minor league players during the shut down. That's just the ones that I know of that have been made public or told to me. There are very likely others out there as well.

 

Much like stay at home orders require personal responsibility, the union itself wouldn't be able to take money from the players, the players would choose to give that money, and many have.

[Shaitan]

That's not really what unions do.

 

As others have noted, many players have publicly donated and it's very likely that others have privately done so.

[DocBauer]

Can't find it right now but thought I recently glimpsed a headline that Kepler had donated a nice chunk of $ towards a cause. I want to say it was a food program but can't now recall.

 

I agree in principal with anyone worth millions making donations, including athletes, ML ballplayers included. I mean, without fans watching and dishing out $ athletes/actors/musicians, etc, don't have their fame and fortune. Athletes, in particular I feel, have a different kind of bond to their communities. Of course, not all of them are millionaires. Many, while better off than most, are not anywhere close to being worth millions. In fact...and not shedding any tears...I believe the only guaranteed $ any ML player has coming at this point is the initial "stipend" the owners have agreed to distribute for the first month.

 

One thing I'm really hoping for is MLB and the owners to step forward and do something to help all the various stadium workers that are currently out of work.

[Mr. Brooks]

I thought I read that in the agreement they came to with the league, that their salaries are not guaranteed this year.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I thought I read that in the agreement they came to with the league, that their salaries are not guaranteed this year.

Kind of, the players union agreed not to sue for full salaries if the season is cancelled, but service time and salaries will be prorated based on the numbers of games played.

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28960271/sources-mlb-mlbpa-agree-deal-stoppage

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1243339849773572096

 

Players will get an advance on their major league salary of 3-4% during the season-delay.

[Shaitan]

This is only semi-related (but the minor league pay forum is locked), but this is my favorite baseball story of the week

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/04/shin-soo-choo-donate-thousand-dollars-rangers-minor-leaguers.html

 

[ewen21]

 

This is only semi-related (but the minor league pay forum is locked), but this is my favorite baseball story of the week

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/04/shin-soo-choo-donate-thousand-dollars-rangers-minor-leaguers.html

It is what prompted me to start this thread.  Why not do something uniformly, though, and do it through the major league baseball players association?  There is enough money in the league.  The average player salary is roughly 4 million/ year.  They can't manage their money well enough to have just about every player kick in one measly percent of that?  I am salaried a little north of 100,000 a year.  That would be like me donating $100.  There is no way the union shouldn't be able to get a fund of about 25 million to donate to the cause.

 

They should organize it and let it be a statement as to what it takes for a society to surive and hopefully thrive.  They play baseball.  If every stadium were imploded and all bats and balls were burned we would go on living.  They are NOT essential to our society.  Wealthy entertainers and athletes are useless if they aren't playing their sport.  They are able bodied enough and rich enough to do something.  An organized gesture of thanks on the part of the players would be nice to see, but I won't hold my breath.

 

It took a South Korean ballplayer to have the presence of mind to do what Choo did.  These are not the kinds of values installed in a lot of young Americans and it is sad.  

[The Wise One]

first responders are not the ones most likely to be killed by this, direct caregivers are the ones more likely to be killed. The hazard pay fairview and others places are offering for nurses for covid units is 4000 a week. that pay rate should make it painfully evident the risk since many parts of the country a nurse makes 60000 a week. cdc does not release data on healthcare worker morbidity. they can't