European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 24, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday August 24,190s the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Usel aces shake nil salary Structure pro football s delicately balanced salary Structure did a Lutc shake rattle and Roll Hen nil teams whipped on heir Check books to enrol Thebes leftovers from the moribund Usel Jim Kelly became he highest paid player in fool Ball when he got is million for five years from Buffalo. Herschel Walker turned 3 few Heads one of them Tony Dorset a s when Dallas gave him a five year. Is million Deal. Kelvin Bryant got j3.7 million for four years from Washington. Thai gave the Usel alumni prominent spots on the list of lop nil salaries. Behind Kelly arc quarterbacks Warren Moon of Houston five years. S5.5 million and Joe Montana of san Francisco sin years. S6.25 million. Two other paws. John Elway of Denver and Bernic Kosar of Cleveland both have the same five year. 15 million deals As Walker. Then comes Bryant. Of those seven players Only Montana has Ever played in a super bowl the message is an old one yesterday s touch Downs and Home runs arc history. In sports it s not what have you done for me lately it s what can you do for me now. The is Usel Stan picked up Tat nil contracts based on their prospects for production. That did not. However sit Well in some circles. Dorset was livid first demanding contract parity with Walker then briefly retreating then deciding to demand a Trade because it would to economically impossible Tor the cowboys to keep both of Ihm. Dorsett has been carrying the football fur the cowboys since 1977. Gaining 10,832 Yards fifth on the All time list. The next Yard Walker gains fur Dallas will be his first. So Dorset reasoned Why is Walker making St million a year and not him .1 these arc unique cases explained Dallas presi Dent ten Schramm who negotiated Walker s con tract. Just As some draft Choice come into the league highly publicized right out of College. These Guys Are coming in from a pro league with three years experience with he same kind of image. They re special cases. They got a lot of mention hut they la fit in. This is nothing Schramm should know. In 1977, the cowboys warded i hair first ii million contract a five year Deal with a first round draft Choice that sent Shock Waves through their Veteran roster. The Rookie s name Mutony Dorset. Three years later the los Angeles rams drafted safety Johnnie Johnson and signed him to a �1.1 million Deal Over six years. Dennis Harrah. Larry Brooks and Jim and Jack Yamn blood All returning from the los Angeles team thai went to the super bowl the year before were so thrilled by thai a excl of mini that they walked out . The million Dollar figure caught people alien Don Klosterman. The rams general manager that year. Said. But it was Over Sis years. There were a lot of deferred contracts Al i hat Lime players Pul Ling Money off for the future. We would int renegotiate ensling contracts and the players could t Force a change Oliai fee told them was we would make adjustments and ind contracts the next year. We told them to play the season and we d consider their performance Kjos Lerman. Another Usel expatriate chuckles non Over the Lap Johnson s contract caused sin years ago. You know what he asked. He might be the lowest paid player in the Rarrat secondary baseball also went through payroll future Shock when free Agency arrived a decade ago. Suddenly the $100.000 ceiling that once applied far superstars became Small i hang. Now. He aver age salary has soared to More than $360,000, part of that inflation can be traced 10 salary arbitration a device by which Monck arguments Between player and club Are settled by a third Pany what would the nil think i the Union or Fujihi a salary arbitration proposal into the collective Bur gaining talks Nam year not said Jack Donlan. Executive director of the nil management Council who Heads the league s negotiating team. Arbitration lets outsiders dictate what you arc going to pay. We would t want that. Look you go out mid get St player you believe you need or want or whatever reason. Maybe you think a Herschel or a Ketly or. A Bryant will Lake you to the super bowl. Whatever the rationale Yuxiu pay More for a particular player. With an arbitrator what docs he look at the Market the new contract sets a tone. The arbitrator looks at the going Rale. It gots up. I m sure agents will use these contracts and say that s the mar Ker clubs will say they re that was Schramm s View. I Don t think these contracts will have any in Pacl on the salary Structure in he said. These arc special a. Greyser a Harvard business school professor who spec Ali is in Spons management is sues understands Schramm s argument. But that does t mean inc anomalies won t have an Impact. Historically in sports where special conditions pertain such As baseball free Agency after the me scr Smith Mcnally decision and inc availability of Usel stare in a Batch a big notch effect occurs. There is an upwards movement that the owners can t he availability of Walker Kelly and the others is like having several years of first round people Sud Denly available in Masse. It s not analogous to any Normal situation. It s a special condition dul existing sum gel their noses out of join. What s really going on is instead of a modest incremental eff Sci on the league s payrolls thai is produced by adding one or to Star Quality players a year you have several years y rth coming All at once Lytal jerks up the scale Greyser said the Impact is different for different grades of players existing stars have various options maybe renegotiating maybe clauses in i hair contracts guaranteeing Thorn the team s highest salary. They gel attention because they Are the team s most needed people. The second group of players hotter players have the possibility of Drifting up. There is a certain Ripple effect Hal will carry them along. The third croup average players. A a real lag effect. The minimum salary gets ratcheted up each time but really inc average player has no leverage because he can be replaced by another average player Dorset of course is no average player. And there is link reason to believe that he will be replaced. Schramm said he would not Trade the running Back. Tony s situation was he said Bull think he understands. This in t anything new like the four rams who walked out on Kosler Man Dorset has a Cormaci thai pays him a substantial salary for playing football. There is no happiness clause included. Atm Altott tid Prtt punch less dodgers reported fighting among themselves los Angeles a the los an gilts dodgers May be fighting to stay out of the cellar of the National league West but manager Tommy Lasorda insists that re ported fights Aren l hurling his team. There arc no problems on this team Lasorda said in a los Angeles times re port published Friday. The times listed a number of confrontations Between players bul Lasorda said the altercations were not the reason inc dodgers have fallen in he standings. The dodgers had scored Only 480 runs fourth lowest in inc league and have lost seven of their last 11 games. Those Are not inc reasons this team is not in first Picc Lasorda said. If you and he other Guys reporters had any idea about baseball whatsoever you Guys would know that. Evidently you Don t. The times reported that Lasorda did not deny the following incidents that two Days ago Lasorda called a meeting on behalf of Pedro Guerrero who believes Hal at least two newspapers in town arc out to get him. Guerrero Confron cd teammates about negative comments to the press concerning his attitude. That Fernando Vul Nucla threw his Glove and Cap in fur during a game in Houston last week. A Lemula was Reading 10 a Fielding i Lake by Steve sax Hal Cost the dodgers a game. E that Mike Scioscia had words with sax during the same series with inc astros. That Mike Marshall and Veteran Bill Russell shouted Al each other lost sunday in san Francisco or that Mariano Duncan played four innings with a broken Bone in his foot in an attempt to prove Hal he has t been dogging ii this Wason there s Art Over reaction to Jusi about everything that s mentioned Lasorda said arc you telling me no teams Ever had an argument not just losing teams bul winning teams too. It happens every Day in baseball. It s just not written everyday. When we had winning bal clubs. Don t you think we had arguments i think this year has been a picnic com pared to others i be been through As far As i m Lasorda said he has had enough prob lems with the team s injuries. You re talking about a team that s been decimated by injuries he said. It s been a sex Rolt Jim Palmer Cooling it. What was that phone number Palmer Mokes a Brief pitch Cincinnati a former Balti More Pitcher Jim Palmer. Dow pitching a Brand of underwear Drew More than re quests for autographs Friday during a promotional Visil to a department store. What would you like me to write .1" the 40-year-old Palmer asked one women who requested his autograph. Your phone number would be she answered. I know your Palmer smiled. And signed his name. He autographed Giveaway Thiris and jockey for her underwear thai the com Pany he represents is free Mcrea Only in underwear and a photograph of him in his Bah Imort orioles uniform. Sprinkled through the crowd of about 300. Mostly women were people holding baseballs. A 25-year-old Man brought in four baseball cards of Palmer including his Rookie card. Thai s Worth $38." said Palmer now a sportscaster for Abc. The card lists him incur Reily As a left hander. In 1976. He and eight other athletes including Pete Rose were featured in a jockey and with inc headline take away their uniform and who Are tidy the company got so Many letters about Palmer Hal they decided to use him As the sole endorser. Al first i was embarrassed said Palmer of being asked to autograph pos ters and undergarments. But now it s like signing a baseball. It puts a smile on somebody
