Want to see an illustration of how much the game has changed?

[msgkings322]

But

Owners have themselves to blame. From the onset of free agency, they practically begged players to be overpaid. Wayne Garland, a good example. Not sure what he made before but he turned down $40,000 in his first season as a starter. He was 20-7 in 1976 for a good Orioles team. He hit free agency and Cleveland signed him for a silly 10 years, 2.3 million. And pitchers like Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan read it and said "If Wayne Garland is worth $300,000, what am I worth?" Starting a march to contract worth 3/4 of a billion

But the money is there and these teams keep growing in value to keep up...dudes are getting rich(er) paying those salaries!

Sports (and gambling) just matter more to modern Americans