Combined Salaries for A-Rod, Pujols, and Fielder More Than GDP of 12 Countries

It’s often said that players in MLB “make too much money.” In relationship to some professions (teachers often get cited), the relationship in pay gets brought up. Of course, when you really think about it, MLB is really a form of entertainment. It’s a capitalism thing – supply and demand – if people didn’t pay the money they did to watch games and purchase merchandise, well… players wouldn’t make as much. But, with the Fielder signing, I made the comment to my Baseball Prospectus brethren that “the AL had gone bat-s%$# crazy” in terms of spending.” Rebecca Glass responded by asking, “Have you thought about looking at how some of the salaries add up compared to the gross-domestic product (GDP) of some small countries?” I said I hadn’t but it would be a fun look. To that end, Rebecca hit Wikipedia and came up with below. If you combine A-Rod’s current deal, plus the recent Pujols and Fielder signings, you come up with a total contract amount of $729 million. These countries have ...