April 17, 2007
Pay for Plays
The Feed comments on a story about "Fight Money" in Japan:
Kei Igawa or Hideki Matsui could provide some more information about the system. The money sometimes comes from management or sometimes right from the manager's pocket and no two teams use the same system. Igawa said that he would receive in the neighborhood of $1,000 for a good performance while with the Hanshin Tigers but sometimes you received gifts other than money from the team or from sponsors. Matsui, for example, received several cars for his successes while Igawa got hot plates. That sounds bad but the mighty Matsuzaka played for Seibu, who didn't give fight money, and would have to figure out what to do with two dozen cans of coffee after a big win.
This works in Japan because players are paid less money than here in the US. However, I'd like to see an All-Star payout, rather than the current system of awarding a league home field advantage. Get a sponsor to put up a significant amount of money that the players on the winning team get to split. Make it a winner take all game with a $10 million purse to be split by the active players and the manager. Then you'll get a meaningful game.