Throughout the nearly 50 years of free agency in Major League Baseball, the top-end money available to players has grown exponentially.
The emotions, however, remain remarkably similar at the start of long-term mega-deals: gratitude, wonder and, at times, disbelief at a player’s good fortune.
Last week, Xander Bogaerts made no secret of how he would have reacted earlier this offseason if his agent had informed him that signing an 11-year contract was possible, let alone a contract with a $280 million guarantee.
“I would have kissed him,” Bogaerts said at a press conference at San Diego’s Petco Park last week, looking down at his agent, Scott Boras. ” I will have. I haven’t done it yet, but I could.
In 1976, when pitcher Wayne Garland became the first player to sign at least a 10-year free agent contract — for $2.3 million, with Cleveland — he called his mother.
“I didn’t get the million dollars,” Garland, who was seeking the five-year sum, told her mother.
“You’re not worth it,” she replied.
“I got two million dollars and 10 years,” he replied. She repeated the sentiment.
“She told the truth,” Garland, 72, said by phone from her Nashville home on Wednesday. “She said it clearly and simply. »
