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Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, but January 29th marks the date in 1936 when the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) released the results of its first vote, enshrining Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner. The building that holds the plaques and memorabilia of the greats of our national pastime opened its doors three years later. By then twenty-one other names had been added to the honor roll, including Lou Gehrig, who had just been diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a fatal illness that many now call Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Just as there are quibbles about who was left out of the most recent balloting there were slights back at the beginning. Rogers (his first name was his mother’s maiden name) Hornsby, who still possesses the second highest lifetime batting average behind Cobb, was overlooked for six years before gaining entrance to Cooperstown. Hornsby provides quite a contrast to many overpaid professional athletes of the 21st Century. His mother was widowed when Rogers was only two. The single parent family moved from Winters, Texas to Fort Worth so Hornsby’s older brothers could get meat packing jobs with Swift and Company. At ten, Rogers went to work part time at Swift as a messenger and utility infielder on the company baseball team. He dropped out of school in the tenth grade to labor at Swift and continue to play semi-pro baseball in the evenings and weekends. Hornsby signed a minor league contract at eighteen. He made it to the majors at nineteen and by the time he reached the age of twenty-five he was an established star with the St. Louis Cardinals. After the 1921 season, in which he batted .397, placed second in the league in home runs, and led the National League in doubles, triples, runs scored, runs batted in, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, Hornsby earned the highest salary in all of major league baseball: $18, 500. Adjusted for modern inflation that would be slightly more than a quarter million dollars per year. Throughout his life Hornsby neither drank nor smoked. He did not go to what he termed “movin’ picture shows” and he refused to play cards. However, he was an inveterate gambler on horse races, losing much of his salary as a player and later, manager. He remained so constantly indebted that he was still playing for and managing a Mexican League team during World War II.
There are no equals of Hornsby at the plate in today’s major league baseball, but salaries have skyrocketed in the three and a half decades since players were allowed to become free agents. Earlier this month Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw signed a deal that will pay him approximately $30 million per year for seven seasons.
Before anyone starts to complain about Kershaw’s salary, consider that even if he made the entirety of his contract, $215 million, in a single year, Kershaw would not even be a blip on the radar of the world’s richest people. And, by the way, Oxfam recently noted that a mere 85 individuals possess as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population!
Why do we, the masses, tolerate this? Probably for the same sort of reason that more people can name the members of the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame than any living rich person beyond Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and a Koch brother. We spend too much of our lives diverted: either working too hard to have time for even the most worthy of diversions like a game of catch or a fine piece of music or we are stupefied by what passes for mind numbing entertainment that big business tries to drown us in. Need I mention the Kardashians, Honey Boo-Boo or pay per view “Ultimate Fighting Championships”?
While you’re searching for the nearest guillotine, the list of those 85 nabobs will be forthcoming. Before sharpening the blade, perhaps we should take a closer look at those who are sitting on enough wealth to feed, clothe and properly house most, if not all, of China, India, and Africa. There are some incredibly wealthy souls like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerberg who have signed a pledge to donate at least half their fortunes to charities. Readers will have to do their own research and form their own judgments on the other wealthy folk listed below. Without further ado here’s your Hall of Shame, with their current net worth (estimated as of December, 2013 by Forbes magazine):
Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, but January 29th marks the date in 1936 when the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) released the results of its first vote, enshrining Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner. The building that holds the plaques and memorabilia of the greats of our national pastime opened its doors three years later. By then twenty-one other names had been added to the honor roll, including Lou Gehrig, who had just been diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a fatal illness that many now call Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Just as there are quibbles about who was left out of the most recent balloting there were slights back at the beginning. Rogers (his first name was his mother’s maiden name) Hornsby, who still possesses the second highest lifetime batting average behind Cobb, was overlooked for six years before gaining entrance to Cooperstown. Hornsby provides quite a contrast to many overpaid professional athletes of the 21st Century. His mother was widowed when Rogers was only two. The single parent family moved from Winters, Texas to Fort Worth so Hornsby’s older brothers could get meat packing jobs with Swift and Company. At ten, Rogers went to work part time at Swift as a messenger and utility infielder on the company baseball team. He dropped out of school in the tenth grade to labor at Swift and continue to play semi-pro baseball in the evenings and weekends. Hornsby signed a minor league contract at eighteen. He made it to the majors at nineteen and by the time he reached the age of twenty-five he was an established star with the St. Louis Cardinals. After the 1921 season, in which he batted .397, placed second in the league in home runs, and led the National League in doubles, triples, runs scored, runs batted in, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, Hornsby earned the highest salary in all of major league baseball: $18, 500. Adjusted for modern inflation that would be slightly more than a quarter million dollars per year. Throughout his life Hornsby neither drank nor smoked. He did not go to what he termed “movin’ picture shows” and he refused to play cards. However, he was an inveterate gambler on horse races, losing much of his salary as a player and later, manager. He remained so constantly indebted that he was still playing for and managing a Mexican League team during World War II.
There are no equals of Hornsby at the plate in today’s major league baseball, but salaries have skyrocketed in the three and a half decades since players were allowed to become free agents. Earlier this month Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw signed a deal that will pay him approximately $30 million per year for seven seasons.
Before anyone starts to complain about Kershaw’s salary, consider that even if he made the entirety of his contract, $215 million, in a single year, Kershaw would not even be a blip on the radar of the world’s richest people. And, by the way, Oxfam recently noted that a mere 85 individuals possess as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population!
Why do we, the masses, tolerate this? Probably for the same sort of reason that more people can name the members of the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame than any living rich person beyond Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and a Koch brother. We spend too much of our lives diverted: either working too hard to have time for even the most worthy of diversions like a game of catch or a fine piece of music or we are stupefied by what passes for mind numbing entertainment that big business tries to drown us in. Need I mention the Kardashians, Honey Boo-Boo or pay per view “Ultimate Fighting Championships”?
While you’re searching for the nearest guillotine, the list of those 85 nabobs will be forthcoming. Before sharpening the blade, perhaps we should take a closer look at those who are sitting on enough wealth to feed, clothe and properly house most, if not all, of China, India, and Africa. There are some incredibly wealthy souls like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerberg who have signed a pledge to donate at least half their fortunes to charities. Readers will have to do their own research and form their own judgments on the other wealthy folk listed below. Without further ado here’s your Hall of Shame, with their current net worth (estimated as of December, 2013 by Forbes magazine):
- Carlos Slim Helu $73 billion 44. Len Blavatnik $16 billion
- Bill Gates $67 billion 45. Cheng Yu-tung $16 billion
- Amancio Ortega $57 billion 46. Joseph Safra $15.9 billion
- Warren Buffet $53.5 billion 47. Rinat Akhmetov $15.4 billion
- Larry Ellison $43 billion 48. Leonid Mikhelson $15.4 billion
- Charles Koch $34 billion 49. Leonardo Del Vecchio $15.3 billion
- David Koch $34 billion 50. Michael Dell $15.3 billion
- Li Ka-shing $31 billion 51. Steve Ballmer $15.2 billion
- Liliane Bettencourt $30 billion 52. Viktor Vekselberg $15.1 billion
- Bernard Arnault $29 billion 53. Paul Allen $15 billion
- Christy Walton $28.2 billion 54. Francois Pinault $15 billion
- Stefan Persson $28 billion 55. Vagit Alekperov $14.8 billion
- Michael Bloomberg $27 billion 56. Phil Knight $14.4 billion
- Jim Walton $26.7 billion 57. Audrey Melnichenko $14.4 billion
- Sheldon Adelson $26.5 billion 58. Dhanin Chearavanont $14.3 billion
- Alice Walton $26.3 billion 59. Susanne Klatten $14.3 billion
- Karl Albrecht $26 billion 61. Michael Otto $14.2 billion
- Jeff Bezos $25.2 billion 62. Vladimir Lisin $14.1 billion
- Larry Page $23 billion 63. Gennady Timchenko $14.1 billion
- Sergey Brin $22.8 billion 64. Luis Carlos Sarmiento $13.9 billion
- Mukesh Ambani $21.5 billion 65. Mohammed Al Amoudi $13.5 billion
- Michele Ferrero $20.4 billion 66. Tadashi Yanai $13.3 billion
- Lee Shau Kee $20.3 billion 67. Mark Zuckerberg $13.3 billion
- David Thomson $20.3 billion 68. Henry Sy $13.2 billion
- Prince Alaweed 69. Donald Bren $13 billion
- Carl Icahn $20 billion 71. Lee Kun-Hee $13 billion
- Thomas & 72. Mikhail Prokhorov $13 billion
- Dieter Schwarz $19.5 billion 74. Antonio Ermio
- George Soros $19.2 billion de Moraes $12.7 billion
- Theo Albrecht Jr. $18.9 billion 75. Abigail Johnson $12.7 billion
- Alberto Bailleres 76. Ray Dalio $12.5 billion
- Jorge Paulo 78. Miuccia Prada $12.4 billion
- Alisher Umanov $17.6 billion 80. Anne Cox Chambers $12 billion
- Iris Fontbona $17.4 billion 81. Stefan Quandt $11.9 billion
- Forrest Mars Jr. $17 billion 82. Ananda Krishnan $11.7 billion
- Jacqueline Mars $17 billion 83. Alejandro Santo
- John Mars $17 billion Domingo Davila $11.7 billion
- Georgina Rinehart $17 billion 84. James Simons $11.7 billion
- German Larrea 85. Charoen
- Mikhail Fridman $16.5 billion
- Lakshmi Mittal $16.5 billion
- Aliko Dangote $16.1 billion
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