It's not about the money

We hear it all the time in professional sports and roughly every single time we hear an athlete say it's not about the money, well, it's about the money. I don't even care that it's about the money, just don't act like I'm a fool and try to bullshit me. If Lebron James came out and just said "Look, I love Cleveland, it's my home and all, but I want to get paid" I'd respect that. What I do not respect is when Lebron comes out on national television, to announce "The Decision" and says he is leaving Cleveland for Miami because he wants to be part of something "special." Lebron is not alone. I hate the guy, I do, but he's not unique. In major league baseball it's a different beast all together. In 2004, the Oakland Athletics, one of the franchises in major league baseball hell bent on running a business on the cheap, attempted to do the right thing. They finally spend big cash to sign one of their home grown talents. Eric Chavez was signed to a 6 year deal worth $66 million. Chavez appeared in 422 games from 2004 through 2006 (125 in 2004, 160 in 2005 and 137 in 2006) but then he got hurt and would never produced the way Oakland needed him to. In the remaining 3 years of the contract he appeared in all of 121 games (90 in 2007 23 in 2008 and 8 in 2009) and with MLB's guaranteed contracts, he cashed in on $11 million despite missing 365 games in 3 seasons. Not once did he call Billy Beane and say "Hey buddy. I didn't earn $33 million, why don't you take some of it back and go sign some players who can help the club." Nor does any sane sports fan expect him to have done so. MLB has guaranteed contracts and if you get hurt on the job, tough sledding, you get paid. Where am I going with this you ask?

This past week the highest paid player on the Kansas City Royals and a guy you may not recognize if he walks down the street, Gil Meche, retired from major league baseball. He had one year left on his contract and was set to make $12 million regardless of whether he pitched 300 innings or didn't lace up his spikes all year. He walked into the GM's office and said that he couldn't live up to the contract he signed because his shoulder was not 100% and he refused to have surgery. They offered him a job as a relief pitcher and he turned it down saying “When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it.” Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad. I was making a crazy amount of money for not even pitching. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t want to have those feelings again.” Meche told his young daughter that he wouldn't be playing baseball anymore because his shoulder was in too much pain and she said "Ok daddy" and went back to playing in the yard.

There have been a few other examples of this including Cubs great and hall of famer Ryne Sandberg turning down $16 million in 1994 saying he could no longer perform at peak level (he later returned to play two more seasons) and most honorably the late Pat Tillman turned down $3.6 million from the Arizona Cardinals after 9/11 to join the Army and fight for his country.

I don't want to deliver a speech on morals and tell rich a-holes what they should do because odds are I'd exhibit more Eric Chavez than Gil Meche. I do want to give credit where it's due and express my respect for the integrity and character of a guy like Gil Meche. If you see me rockin' the #55 Royals jersey, now you know why.