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Postseason Shares

TransMonk Dec 03 2008 01:42 PM

The 2008 postseason player shares have been announced. [url=http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081202&content_id=3699588&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi:1swidpac]The Mets were awarded 40 full shares of $9,186, 9.5 partial shares and 23 cash awards.[/url:1swidpac] I never knew that the 2nd place teams from each division get postseason shares even if they don't win the wildcard. The Mets got 'em [url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20071126&content_id=2307317&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb:1swidpac]last year[/url:1swidpac] too. This seems ridiculous to me. The Mets players deserve a swift kick in the arse for missing the playoffs by one game for two years in a row, not a share of the playoff dough.

HahnSolo Dec 03 2008 01:45 PM

Maybe it's the thank you they get from the Phillies and Brewers.

Nymr83 Dec 03 2008 01:54 PM

I find it hard to believe that there were 73 players on the Mets who deserve recognition of ANY kind, do coaches and trainers and bat boys partake in this as well (perhaps under "cash awards" not shares?) did 73 people even see a single AB/IP with the Mets this year?

Frayed Knot Dec 03 2008 02:04 PM

]I never knew that the 2nd place teams from each division get postseason shares even if they don't win the wildcard I know this was a system with its roots in the pre-division days. At the end of each season there was money for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes (maybe even 4th?) which served both as a reward as well as an incentive not to mail the season in once your shot at 1st place was gone. I wasn't sure they still did that in this era of smaller division and Wild Cards. ]do coaches and trainers and bat boys partake in this as well (perhaps under "cash awards" not shares?) Yes.

RealityChuck Dec 03 2008 02:05 PM

The money is distributed as the team sees fit, so batboys and front office secretaries, etc. are usually given something. Full shares usually go to those on the roster plus coaches; partial shares go to people who only got a cup of coffee or were traded mid-season (unless the team is being generous). It used to be the players that voted on who got shares; I don't know if that's changed.

Nymr83 Dec 03 2008 02:06 PM

thanks for the clarification, do they make a list i'm curious

attgig Dec 03 2008 03:06 PM

="RealityChuck":2322ne2d]The money is distributed as the team sees fit, so batboys and front office secretaries, etc. are usually given something. Full shares usually go to those on the roster plus coaches; partial shares go to people who only got a cup of coffee or were traded mid-season (unless the team is being generous). It used to be the players that voted on who got shares; I don't know if that's changed.[/quote:2322ne2d] that's how it was with nomar when he got traded, and the sox won the series. nomar got a full share cuz they all voted. I don't think anything's changed since then. Gwreck Dec 03 2008 03:59 PM The postseason shares are funded by the "Player's Pool," which is made up of 60% of gross ticket revenue from the first three games of each division series, and the first 4 games of each LCS and World Series. The player's pool is then allocated as follows: WS Winner (1 team) - 36% WS Loser (1 team) - 24% LCS Losers (2 teams) - 12% each Division Series Losers (4 teams) - 3% each Non-Wild Card Second Place Teams (4 teams) - 1% each Source for much of this info: http://mlbplayers.mlb.com/pa/info/faq.jsp#playoff Back when there were only 2 playoff teams, instead of LCS losers and Division Series losers getting the money, the pool was split to include second, third, fourth place, etc. -- such that the top half of the teams in the league got money and the bottom half didn't. Such is the origin of the now-antiquated terms "first division" and "second division." Keith Hernandez is one of the few people who still uses the term, often referring to a bad team as a "second division ballclub." Anyway, the distribution of money from the players' pool is a players-only vote, chaired by the team's union player rep. I believe the manager can be invited, at the player's discretion, to provide recommendations. Often the voting is based strictly on service time with the club that year. Players generally vote full, half, or quarter shares, and can also vote cash awards in lieu of a percentage share. When player salaries were much lower, a "playoff share" was a big deal and a huge supplement to their income -- it could, for example, be the difference between needing to work an offseason job or not. In present-day times, a $9,000 playoff share is going to mean peanuts to players with a minimum salary of $400,000. It *is* however going to be very significant to the trainers, clubhouse staff, etc. whose salaries are much lower. Their "playoff shares" still mean a lot. --- My recollection is that in 2004, the Red Sox players voted Nomar a three-quarters share. G-Fafif Dec 03 2008 04:04 PM Hired goons should be dispatched to collect anti-postseason shares from various Met relievers? Frayed Knot Dec 03 2008 04:28 PM ]The postseason shares are funded by the "Player's Pool," which is made up of 60% of gross ticket revenue from the first three games of each division series, and the first 4 games of each LCS and World Series. And the reason it was set up that way was to prevent the players on the two teams from secretly making a pact to split the first 6 games of the series before battling it out in the 7th in an attempt to increase the money pool. Ergo it's the owners who benefit from a long series. RealityChuck Dec 04 2008 09:38 AM ="attgig":3ey6ofss] ="RealityChuck":3ey6ofss]The money is distributed as the team sees fit, so batboys and front office secretaries, etc. are usually given something. Full shares usually go to those on the roster plus coaches; partial shares go to people who only got a cup of coffee or were traded mid-season (unless the team is being generous). It used to be the players that voted on who got shares; I don't know if that's changed.[/quote:3ey6ofss] that's how it was with nomar when he got traded, and the sox won the series. nomar got a full share cuz they all voted. I don't think anything's changed since then.[/quote:3ey6ofss] It was pretty common for a team to be generous when it hasn't won in awhile, giving full shares to people traded in midseason and half shares to people on the 40-man roster who never actually got to play. When you tended to win a lot, it sometimes got ugly. The MFYs in the early 60s occasionally would create clubhouse controversy by forgetting about players who were traded or giving less than full shares to some players who probably would have gotten them on other teams. Frayed Knot Dec 14 2008 02:31 PM Just happened to see a 'this date in baseball history' note on this recently discussed topic: 1911 - Pittsburgh Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss proposes that each team in the World Series be required to turn over one-fourth of its share of the gate to the league, to be divided among the other teams. Until now, ten percent of the gross went to the National Commission, 60 percent to the players, and the rest to the two pennant-winning clubs. The National League will pass the resolution and send it to the American League. It marks the beginning of changes that ultimately give players of the first four clubs a percentage of the World Series money.