$308.64

Everyone sees where Sammy Sosa was fined $87,400 for missing a game. That’s one day’s pay for him. Now, I’m not one to begrudge players their money. Far from it. Get whatever you can. This is a capitalistic society. We don’t need the anti-labor socialism of the NBA and the NFL. Free markets reign!

Here’s the issue with the fine. It’s nothing more than a publicity stunt. So Sammy lost 1/162nd of his salary. To a guy making $50 grand per year, you know what the equivalent is? Yup. $308.64. Before taxes.

All this does is hurt Sammy in the public’s eye. He deserves it. But don’t let me hear any beefing about how this is a huge fine. It’s all relative to his base salary. It’s meaningless in terms of any financial harm done to him.

It’s just another punch in the same eye socket to which Sammy has been getting pummeled for a week. It’s also making it harder and harder for the Cubs to unload him.