Money For Something

10 days ago Alex Rodriguez hit a game-winning grand slam against the Orioles and was greeted by ecstatic teammates in a mob at home plate. Back slapping, a curtain call and hearty congratulations followed but there were no tangible rewards for his dramatic blast. A-Rod had to settle for the $150,000+ he earned for playing the game. If he read this morning's New York Times he'd learn that in Osaka or Kyoto he would have earned a little something extra for his good play.

The financial exchange, which is separate from a player’s salary, is common in Japanese baseball and known as kantoku shou, which, translated literally, means manager prize. The foreign players in Nippon Professional Baseball commonly refer to it as fight money.

The system is simple: When a player shines in the eyes of his manager during a victory — by doing something like hitting a game-winning home run or pitching eight solid innings or stealing a base during a key moment — he is later rewarded with cash. Sometimes players are given cash for their cumulative statistics, like having the most victories on the team by the All-Star Game break.

Kei Igawa or Hideki Matsui could provide some more information about the system. The money sometimes comes from management or sometimes right from the manager's pocket and no two teams use the same system. Igawa said that he would receive in the neighborhood of $1,000 for a good performance while with the Hanshin Tigers but sometimes you received gifts other than money from the team or from sponsors. Matsui, for example, received several cars for his successes while Igawa got hot plates. That sounds bad but the mighty Matsuzaka played for Seibu, who didn't give fight money, and would have to figure out what to do with two dozen cans of coffee after a big win.

Bobby Valentine, never one for doing things the old way, has devised a computerized points system for his Chiba Lotte club that divvies up the fight money among all the players who contributed to the win. A point for a shutout inning here, two points for stealing a base and scoring a run there...It's like Win Shares but in monetarty form! He also keeps a small percentage for himself so that he always has a disguise handy for when he's kicked out by an umpire. Valentine wouldn't say how much yen his players receive because the first rule of fight money is don't talk about fight money.

It seems like an odd system and the article quotes Tom Glavine as wondering why players should get bonus money for doing what they are already paid to do. I wonder, though, if Glavine doesn't have an incentive clause or two written into his contract. Many players have them, money for making so many plate appearances or making the All-Star Team, and here rank and file players make much more money than they do in Japan, which makes it all the stranger that playing often and playing well should be rewarded.