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July 3, 2006

The Ledger Domain

Private Jets, Hitting the Scales and other Colorful Contract Requests

by Maury Brown

In baseball’s off-season, the AP wires are flooded with short reports detailing trades or contract renewals for players. Here’s an example:

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees grabbed center fielder Johnny Damon away from the rival Boston Red Sox, reaching a preliminary agreement Tuesday night on a $52 million, four-year contract.

Details of the deal were still being negotiated and Damon must pass a physical, a baseball official said on condition of anonymity because negotiations were not yet final.

Damon's contract with the Yankees includes a partial no-trade clause, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney reported.

Interesting on one level, but maybe you remember this…

[Kevin] Brown's $105 million, seven-year contract -- the first $100 million deal in baseball history -- calls for his team to pay for 12 private jet trips for the pitcher's family from Macon to his in-season home or to selected games, and for ground transportation. The same service is called for if the team has any postseason road games. In addition, Brown gets eight premium season tickets.