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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