"Why not, I had a better year than him"

That's what Babe Ruth said when a reporter pointed out that he made more than the president (and incidentally, he was right).

The AP published a study of 2003 baseball salaries in which they found that the highest-paid player, Alex "A-Wad" Rodriguez, makes more money than the entire opening-day roster for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. A-Rod can always us the Ruthian defense.

Th AP also found that the average salary is $2,555,476, 7.2% more than last year. A was a little surprised given the austerity of the past offseason. Then I caught this juicy nugget:

In a sign of baseball's economic slowdown, the number of players making $1 million or more dropped to 385 from 413 last year and 425 in 2000. The median salary -- the point at which an equal amount of players is above and below -- dropped to $800,000 from $900,000 at the start of last season and $975,000 in 2000.

This is the trend that I am more interested in. As the old, long-term contracts expire, this will be the driving force in the industry. Contracts willrarely be longer than 3 years now that the insurance companies refuse to handle anything longer.

Also, no mention was made of players who are no longer with their teams but are still getting paid (e.g., Albert Belle and Greg Vaughn). They could artificially inflate the numbers.

Of course, this is just further ammo for MLB to spin their austerity program (or progrom). Expect the same as the season continues and into next offseason.