Baseball pitcher quits and forfeits 12 million dollar contract

[Selene]

This is an interesting story and establishes integrity still survives and is always personal.

Baseball Player Quits, Says "I Don't Deserve

$12M"Royals starter Gil Meche walks away from a guaranteed contract

By GREG WILSON

Updated 10:19 AM EST, Thu, Jan 27, 2011

Getty ImagesOkay, Gil Meche hasn't been great since signing a big contract with the Kansas City Royals. But not many players would feel so badly about their performance that they would walk away from a guaranteed $12 million.

Meche announced last week he will retire, giving up the payday due on the last year of his deal. Meche has always been known for his integrity, according to The New York Times, but this move left the baseball world stunned. Meche said he just didn't like the idea of not earning his keep.

“When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it,” Meche told the paper from his temporary home in Lafayette, La. “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 made more than $50 million playing baseball, with most coming in the five-year, $55 million deal he signed with the Royals when he left Seattle in 2007.

“This isn’t about being a hero — that’s not even close to what it’s about,” Meche said. “It’s just me getting back to a point in my life where I’m comfortable. Making that amount of money from a team that’s already given me over $40 million for my life and for my kids, it just wasn’t the right thing to do.”

Meche, who is just 32, posted an 0-5 record last season with a 5.69 ERA. In his four years with the Royals, he won 29 games and lost 39.

He said he has no regrets and is now looking for a new home in the area where he grew up.

“I want to get back to what I remember as a kid, the way of life here in Louisiana,” Meche said. “We tend to think we live a little differently down here. It’s a lot of culture, a lot of French culture. Everywhere I’ve been in the country, for some reason, this is the place I can’t get away from.”

[sjw]

“This isn’t about being a hero — that’s not even close to what it’s about,” Meche said.

That about sums it up.

I mean this as no disparagement whatsoever of Meche, but you're scraping the bottom of the barrel when this is considered a shining example of integrity.

But here's an example of real courage:

She risked not only a lot of money but also her reputation. And what do you know, she was vindicated over a decade later.

Shayne

[BaalChatzaf]

Diogenes need look no further.

Good for Gil!

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Selene]

"This isn't about being a hero — that's not even close to what it's about," Meche said.

That about sums it up.

I mean this as no disparagement whatsoever of Meche, but you're scraping the bottom of the barrel when this is considered a shining example of integrity.

But here's an example of real courage:

She risked not only a lot of money but also her reputation. And what do you know, she was vindicated over a decade later.

Shayne

Shayne:

I certainly did not say a "shining" example of integrity. I will leave the bottom of the barrel for those who wish to sip from it.

I agree that O'Conner, having courage, made her position clearly known. I respect her.

Adam

[Brant Gaede]

It'd be more interesting to know why these players get these bloated wages in the first place. Maybe if everybody had to build their own ballparks out of private funding the whole economics of major league baseball would change. I'd take the money, pay my taxes and donate the balance to St. Jude's or some such what. The hell with letting the owner(s) off the hook for how they got what they got.

--Brant

[sjw]

It'd be more interesting to know why these players get these bloated wages in the first place. Maybe if everybody had to build their own ballparks out of private funding the whole economics of major league baseball would change. I'd take the money, pay my taxes and donate the balance to St. Jude's or some such what. The hell with letting the owner(s) off the hook for how they got what they got.

--Brant

In the State of the Union, President and CEO Barack Obama expressed his desire to take the reins of the economy in order that every able bodied person can reach that lofty goal of becoming an employee, subservient to one of those whom he decides to divvy out money to. Forget about upholding the rule of law and creating an environment where people have the maximum liberty to strive and achieve, CEO Obama is going to decide for you what you'll do with 2/3 of your time, and what's more, he'll even charge you for usurping your own right to decide for yourself on a free market. And the slave mentality of people is such that they cheered him for his intentions.

I wonder whether watching other people play baseball would be as popular if not for the slave mentality most people have. I mean, if you yourself are the hero, fighting and winning battles of your own, why would you care about the insignificant exploits of some baseball player? But slaves can't achieve for themselves, so they live vicariously through others.

Shayne

Edited January 27, 2011 by sjw

[Mike11]

I know this guy isn't Ghandi but given that just last year the CEO's and brokers who crashed the American economy and damn near the world economy gave themselves billions in bonuses this guy is a working class hero.

[sjw]

I know this guy isn't Ghandi but given that just last year the CEO's and brokers who crashed the American economy and damn near the world economy gave themselves billions in bonuses this guy is a working class hero.

Beggars (slaves) can't be choosers?

Shayne

[caroljane]

He's not the first.

In 1979 Bobby Orr, believed by many to be the greatest player in the history of hockey, retired due to a hopelessly ruined knee. Three years earlier he had signed a then-record, $3-million guaranteed five -year contract with the Black Hawks. He played only 26 games for Chicago.

Believing that he should not be paid for not playing, he never cashed one cheque.

Edited February 1, 2011 by daunce lynam

[Selene]

Carol:

There is also the obverse story about Babe Ruth being questioned by a reporter in, I believe 1928 or 1930 concerning his $100,00.00 dollar salary which was more than the President earned...

What the hell has Hoover got to do with it? Besides, I had a better year than he did.

• Anecdote of his response on being asked how he felt holding out for a salary higher than that of the US President, (variously reported as having been in 1929 or 1930) as quoted in Baseball: A History of America's Game (2002) by Benjamin G. Rader, p. 134
• Unsound variants : Hey, I had a better year than he did.
  Why not, I had a better year than he did.
  I know, but I had a better year than Hoover.

Adam