Why do MLB players make more than NPF players?

Payton Dougherty
Nov 5 · 2 min read

Why is it fair for men athletes to get paid more than women athletes? Why do MLB players get paid more than NPF when both games they play have the same basic object?


The average professional baseball player makes about $4.32 million dollars each years and the professional softball player makes about $5,000-$6,000 dollars for a 48 game season. So why is there such a big difference?

The Yankees bat boy salary is more than my professional softball contract

lmaooo not trying to burn myself but when will softball get some respect

— Delanie Gourley (@_lanie33) March 1, 2019

This quote is from Delanie Gourley saying that a Yankees bat boy makes more than her as a professional softball player. She wants to know when softball will get some more respect. Patrick Pinak says “The same issue occurred when in professional softball despite the sport’s clear popularity and impressive ratings at the college level”. He also says, “ Take that $6,000 and divide it by the 52 weeks in a year and you get just $115 per week, or about $500 per month.”(Pinak).

Patrick Pinak was saying that it is very surprising how much of the money difference especially since it has become very popular and some very impressing ratings at the college level.

Lauren Chamberlin also has something to say about this huge payment gap, “ If there aren’t butts in the seats and people seeing the product being used, companies aren’t going to want to invest their time or money,” said Chamberlain. “But it starts with the viewing. People won’t attend a professional softball game if they don’t know it exists”. I believe many softball players can relate to this because obviously if people never really hear about that sport they wont go and that also means less money. Men are getting paid more because they are on Tv more and talked about more.

Guerra, Tony, et al. “What Is the Starting Salary for a Professional Softball Player?” Career Trend, https://careertrend.com/info-10052431-starting-salary-professional-softball-player.html.

Pinak, Patrick. “Pro Softball Player: ‘Yankees Bat Boy Salary Is More Than My Professional Contract’.” FanBuzz, FanBuzz — Sports News — NFL | NCAA | NBA | WWE, 18 Oct. 2019, https://fanbuzz.com/college-softball/delanie-gourley-softball-contract/.

Woodruff, Jim. “How Much Money Do Baseball Players Make?” Chron.com, Hearst Newspapers, 29 June 2018, https://work.chron.com/much-money-baseball-players-make-14452.html

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