Don’t Forget Incentive Clause for Hitting 60 or More Homers

During the recent Babe Ruth Conference at Hofstra University, economist Dan Marburger presented a paper entitled, “What Would Babe Ruth Earn Today?”

His conclusion: A lot, but not as much as you might think.

Marburger took all of Ruth’s major league salaries, adjusted them into 1994 dollars, then crunched in items such as salary arbitration and free agency, and came up with some eye-popping numbers.

“Ruth’s salaries in today’s baseball market would range between almost $3 million and $7.5 million, and his peak income years would have covered a longer time span than any of today’s stars,” he said.

“In other words, for most of his career, he’d be the highest-paid player in baseball.”

On a chart, Marburger had Ruth jumping from $294,000 to $2.297 million in 1918, his first year of eligibility for arbitration. His pay reaches its peak, $7.55 million, in 1922.

Ruth actually earned a peak salary of $80,000 in 1930, but his total income that year has been estimated at $200,000.

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Add Babe Ruth: The Babe, 47 years after his death, earns far more money now than he ever did.

Ruth’s surviving adopted daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, and five children of his deceased first adopted daughter, Dorothy, and the Babe Ruth League share in an annual income of roughly $1 million.

Babe Ruth products are sold in 10 countries, according to Mark Roesler, president of Curtis Management Group of Indianapolis, the firm that markets Ruth’s name and likeness.

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Trivia time: In 1974, how did fitness enthusiast Jack LaLanne celebrate his 60th birthday?

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Timing is everything: On Sunday, Roger Penske’s dominant racing team, in one of sport’s incredible upsets, failed to qualify a car for the Indianapolis 500. Monday’s mail brought a lavish coffee-table book entitled, “In Pursuit of Perfection: Team Penske,” a tribute to the team’s 1994 championship season.

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Muscle cocktail: Body-building guru Joe Weider’s magazine, Muscle and Fitness, is running ads for his new supplement, Ultimate Orange.

According to the Amateur Athletic Foundation, it was created by Dan Duchaine, who served prison time for steroid trafficking and is the author of “The Underground Steroid Handbook.”

The ads state the product contains no illegal compounds, but the AAF says the ads prompt plenty of questions.

In a recent newsletter, the AAF quoted from the ad:

“Not for every Pencil-Necked Ding Dong in your gym . . . NOT for use in drug-tested competitions, like any Olympic sport, NCAA finals, etc. NOT for use by anyone with a heart condition, diabetes, pregnant, or taking any medications. NOT for sale to, or use by, minors.”

Summed up the AAF: “Ultimate Orange? Sounds more like Agent Orange.”

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Never fails: In the Bay to Breakers footrace in San Francisco, which attracted about 80,000 entrants Sunday, there’s always at least one nude entrant.

That explains the following PA announcement Sunday, when a race official noted a nude entrant who remained unclothed after finishing: “Please put your shorts back on, sir!”

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Trivia answer: In San Francisco, he swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman’s Wharf with his hands and feet tied.

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Quotebook: Football analyst Beano Cook, learning in 1981 that just-released American hostages in Iran would be given lifetime passes to major league baseball: “Haven’t they suffered enough?”