Earn 59% more Just by making one switch….

 

So you’re a lefty and life is tough?

Stop your whining.

Look at the numbers . . . you’re in pretty good company . . . if you can survive adolescence.

This week we compare the salaries of left-handed pitchers with the average salary of all pitchers over the past 20 years.

I can be the first to admit the approach was less than totally scientific on this one. We did gather the pertinent data and we did comb the data (the data is losing hair just like you are – such a shame) . . .

But we didn’t do much else. It’s been a crazy week. Forgive me this once?

Here are the lefties we pulled:

Name Years in MLB Highest Salary Earned Year Team during salary Contract
Jim Abbott 1989-1999 $2,775,000 1994 NY Yankees
Steve Avery 1990-2003 $4,850,000 1997 Boston Red Sox
John Franco 1984-2005 $4,000,000 1993 NY Mets
Paul Gibson 1988-1996 $830,000 1993 NY Mets
Tom Glavine 1989-present $11,000,000 2003 NY Mets $42.5 million – 4 yr – NY Mets (2003)
Steve Howe 1980-1996 $2,500,000 1995 NY Yankees
Bruce Hurst 1980-1994 $3,000,000 1992 San Diego Padres
Randy Johnson 1988-present $16,000,000 2004 AZ Diamondbacks $ 53 million – 4 yr – AZ (1999)
Bob Kipper 1985-1992 $1,000,000 1992 Minnesota Twins
Al Leiter 1987-2005 $10,295,600 2004 NY Mets $32 million – 4 yr – NY Mets (1998)
Joe Magrane 1987-1996 $1,500,000 1994 LA Angels
Eric Milton 1998-present $10,333,333 2007 Cincinatti Reds $25 million – 3 yr – Cincinatti Reds (2004)
Andy Pettitte 1995-present $16,428,416 2006 Houston Astros $31.5 million – 3 yr – Houston Astros (2003)
Greg Swindell 1986-2002 $4,450,000 1995 Houston Astros
Fernando Valenzuela 1980-1997 $2,050,000 1988 LA Dodgers
Frank Viola 1982-1996 $4,833,333 1993 Boston Red Sox
David Wells 1987-2007 $9,250,000 2001 Chicago White Sox
Dontrelle Willis 2003-present $10,000,000 2009 Detroit Tigers $29 million – 3 yr – Detroit Tigers (2007)
Barry Zito 2000-present $18,500,000 2009 San Francisco Giants $126 million – 7 yr – San Francisco Giants (2007)

Here’s where the bias was introduced, we took the best contract or best years for the lefties. Good data is more rare than good chocolate.

Check out the average Pitching Salaries:

Year # of pitchers Avg. Annual Salary
**2000 126 starting pitchers $3,064,021
**2000 165 relief pitchers $1,220,412
***2008 128 starting pitchers $4,429,366
***2008 198 relief pitchers $1,859,796
2009 407 pitchers $2,887,334

You know I’m not a baseball nut, but Relief Pitchers . . . they play HOW MANY INNINGS?? If I can get the numbers I’ll break down what those fellas are earning per inning. Then you can compare your hourly rate to their inning rate and . . .

So here’s the point.

The average left-handed pitcher earns $7,031,352 annually and the average Starting Pitcher earns $4,429,366 which means the lefties get a mark-up of 59% over average starting pitchers.

So if you want to make more coin, start using your left hand!

Simple enough, 😉

Data Collected and Sorted by Whitney Ostrander.
Photo of Ned Flanders snagged from the Simpsons.


9 thoughts on “Earn 59% more Just by making one switch….”

  1. And for those who are Lefties, they are in their right mind, n’est pas?

    certainly a fun and engaging post.

    Too late for me to change which hand I use now though.
    However, it is a fun exercise sometime to write or draw with my non-dominate hand.

    Stretches open the neuro-pathways.

    Happy Dating and Relationships,

    April Braswell

  2. We have two lefties in our family. To bad they didn’t know then what you write now. It was so looked down on if you were left handed growing up – at least where I grew up. Teachers did almost everything thinkable to make lefties switch hands.

    Too Funny Martin!

    Vicki

  3. Good one Martin.

    Interesting! And a few that I know seems to have a superiority complex. I will too when I make $50,000,000.00 in four years.

    Martin O’Connor

  4. I wonder why that would be if there is a bonafide connection. And look at those large numbers with dollar signs – just about made me salivate! That is a lot of money for pitching….

    MissMentor

  5. Awww, I should have played baseball! Instead my left handed capabilities are underutilized in IT.
    Lefties should get paid more because they live less than righties, right? 😉

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