Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/13/84; site cadsys.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!intelca!cadsys!bbaker From: bbaker@cadsys.UUCP (William Baker) Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball Subject: Re: Re: Impending Strike (in defense of the players) Message-ID: <126@cadsys.UUCP> Date: Tue, 6-Aug-85 20:49:20 EDT Article-I.D.: cadsys.126 Posted: Tue Aug 6 20:49:20 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 22:29:58 EDT References: <693@spuxll.UUCP> <375@uvaee.UUCP>, <714@fisher.UUCP> <702@spuxll.UUCP> Organization: Intel, Santa Clara, Ca. Lines: 54 > In major TV markets, the sports reporter for the 6 & 11 o'clock news > on the local network affiliate probably makes more than most of the > hometown baseball players. And HE only "works" 5 minutes a day!!! > How else could Graig Nettles -- good for over a million per -- be seen > on a local sports show a month ago, talking so sincerely about the "wisdom" > of going on strike late in the season so that the owners would either give in > to the players demands or "lose all of that playoff and World Series > money"? You'll pardon me for being a bit picky with this comment: It is common misconception that on-air journalists work only the time that they are on the air. Wrong. While it is true that some pay-for-the-face journalists in major markets do not work eighteen hours a day on pure journalism. However, the reverse is most often true. Having grown up in newsrooms, I can well-remember the anchorpeople (known as "the talent" in the business) coming in early and staying late. They write a great deal of what they read on the air. This applies to sports reporters as well. In fact, except for the biggest markets (L.A., New York, and Chicago) the on-air sports anchor is also a full-time reporter. They must put in long hours covering sports events in the evening. Baseball players work less than four hours a day for less than forty weeks a year. Sports reporters often work more than ten hours a day for more than forty-eight weeks a year. The idea that the average sports reporter, even the lead reporter who does the on-air section, earns more than the average baseball player is ludicrous. The average salary of a major league baseball player is ten times what a sports reporter could ever hope to earn in all but the biggest markets. There are only three journalists that I know of who make more than $1,000,000 a year (Brokaw, Jennings, and Rather). I know of no sports journalists who make anything near to the kind of money that the top ball players make. There are sports *announcers* who pull down a lot of money, but they are not journalists. It is interesting to note how much a baseball player's career is like a journalists. Most journalists toil in small markets (just like minor league baseball) and never go further. Those that make it to the big markets often have very short careers. The industry's desire for image over competency doom television journalists as they age, especially women. Phyllis George's career as a female sports television "journalist" is almost at an end because she, like us all, is getting old. Some journalists manage to have long careers in the "big leagues", but they are as rare as forty year-old baseball players. The difference is that journalists get better with age, disregarding alcoholism (one of the leading causes of death among journalists, especially those that cover sports). I don't particularly care if they strike or not. This season just has not been as exciting as last year's (the prospect of a Cub-Tiger Series kept me on edge for a long time). As the signs have been saying, "Football starts soon!". Bill Baker intelca!cadsys!bbaker