Worth mentioning, but this isn't exactly true for baseball players: "Baseball players (stars made middle-class salaries before the union)."
They got nothing like the millions in the game today, and ownership was taking 75% of the revenue (today it's closer to 55%).
Babe Ruth famously signed a contract that paid him more than the president ($80k in the early 1930s was a LOT of money). When asked about it, he said "Well, I had a better year than he did."
Not intended to diminish your point, I just wanted to share a funny store about one of the more interesting characters from the game's history.
They got nothing like the millions in the game today, and ownership was taking 75% of the revenue (today it's closer to 55%).
Babe Ruth famously signed a contract that paid him more than the president ($80k in the early 1930s was a LOT of money). When asked about it, he said "Well, I had a better year than he did."
Not intended to diminish your point, I just wanted to share a funny store about one of the more interesting characters from the game's history.