A Good Year for Texas

A popular baseball player --if there is such a thing anymore--got a new contract last week, paying him $252 million.

My first reaction was the same as yours:

Two hundred and fifty million dollars!

Followed by my second reaction, which was also probably similar to yours:

Wait a minute--two hundred and fifty-TWO million dollars?

I wonder how in the world they arrived at that figure.

“Mr. Rodriguez, we’d like to offer you a 10-year contract for $250 million.”

“Make it 252 and it’s a deal.”

I mean, it wasn’t as if the previously best-paid player in baseball was making two hundred and fifty-ONE million.

Alex Rodriguez now has the highest salary of any athlete in the history of sport. I find this quite interesting, particularly if you ask yourself three questions:

1. Would you recognize Alex Rodriguez if you saw him on the street?

2. Have you ever seen Alex Rodriguez play baseball in your life?

3. Had you even heard of Alex Rodriguez before last week?

You’d be surprised by how many people at this very moment are answering: “No,” “No” and “Now that you mention it, no.”

Even people ignorant about baseball have heard of certain players. Mark McGwire. Sammy Sosa. Mike Piazza, maybe.

You’d think the highest-paid guy of all time would be so well known, he couldn’t show his face in public without causing a panic. Children chasing him down the street. Men shouting. Women swooning.

But on the chance Alex Rodriguez suddenly appeared before you, no more than one in 10, tops, would say: “Look! It’s him!”

“Him who?”

“Alex Rodriguez!”

“WHO?”

“The $250-million guy!”

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Around the world, Alex Rodriguez is almost anonymous. Chi Chi Rodriguez is more famous. Golfers, tennis players, ice skaters, basketball players, soccer players . . . they’re all bigger international stars than anybody in baseball.

That doesn’t mean the Texas Rangers--once owned by a certain George W. Bush--were fools last week when they forked over the $252 million.

On the contrary, there were at least three mitigating circumstances:

1. There has probably never been a Texas Ranger you recognized if you saw him on the street.

2. You might not have seen any Texas Ranger play baseball in your life, since they haven’t even been in a World Series.

3. There’s a possibility that the only Texas Ranger you ever heard of was that “Walker” character played on TV by Chuck Norris.

So don’t blame the team.

Maybe the next time the Texas Rangers visit your town, you’ll say: “Hey, let’s go see the $250-million guy. Maybe he’ll hit 10 home runs.”

And, if you are already lucky enough to live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, maybe you’ll buy tickets to a Texas Ranger baseball game for the first time. Maybe that old righty President Bush will toss out the first ball.

Texans should be tickled.

Everything is going their way. Bush won. The “best player in baseball” is coming there. Houston got the pro football team L.A. was supposed to get. Janet Reno won’t ever set foot in Waco again. It’s been a good year.

I keep reading, though, that this $252-million deal is bad for baseball. Maybe even bad for America.

But why?

Because an athlete will be overpaid? (Nothing new about that.)

That other guys’ salaries will go up? That ticket prices will go up? (Nothing new there, either.)

That too many other working Americans are underpaid? (No kidding.)

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I don’t begrudge Alex Rodriguez a dime. He makes an honest living. He provides a service. He’s led a trouble-free life off the field. He will help his new company sell its product. He’ll almost certainly improve that product.

Now think of an actor. Julia Roberts, say. Suppose they pay Roberts $25 million per picture over the next 10 years.

She gets to do her work in private. (Alex Rodriguez works in public.) She gets to correct mistakes so you won’t see them. (Rodriguez can’t.) She might work three or four months. (Rodriguez works at least eight.) Nobody boos her to her face. She rarely gets her hands dirty. And she doesn’t have to work to organ music.

Actors never work alone, but some do get paid more than others.

So I don’t mind what Alex Rodriguez makes. Nor do I mind that his agent supposedly asked for a lot of perks. I once asked my own boss for first-class air travel, a private office and more money than a more popular colleague was making. “No,” “No” and “Now that you mention it, no,” he said.

It never hurts to ask.

A talented baseball player is getting $252 million--big deal.

I’m employed by a company that owns the Chicago Cubs. Imagine having to pay them.

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Mike Downey’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write to: Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: mike.downey@latimes.com