Money Players Not What They Used to Be

How out of whack are baseball salaries? New Angel pitcher Kelvim Escobar, who was 13-9 with a 4.29 earned-run average for the Toronto Blue Jays last season, will have a salary of $5.5 million next season.

Warren Spahn, the winningest left-hander in major league baseball history, never made more than $87,500. Spahn, who died Monday, pitched in the majors until 1965.

Trivia time: Hall of Fame basketball player Bill Sharman’s final year in the NBA was 1961, when he was the fourth-highest-paid player in the league. What was his salary?

A better world: Dan Daly of the Washington Times points out that in the December issue of Esquire magazine is a list of ways to improve the world. One was a law that would require overpaid athletes to buy everything for the rest of their lives at inflated stadium prices.

Vintage whine: The Kansas City Star reported that while Kansas City Chief kicker Morten Andersen waited to try his game-winning field goal against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, Coach Dick Vermeil, who was born in Napa Valley, promised Andersen a bottle of wine if he made the kick. Not just any bottle, but a Bryant Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon that goes for more than $500.

A spokesman for the NFL, sometimes referred to as the No Fun League, complained in all seriousness that such a gift could raise salary-cap issues.

Reaction: Tony Gonzalez, the Chiefs’ tight end, was a guest on Peter Brown’s Sporting News radio show Tuesday and was asked for an opinion on the NFL’s stance.

“It’s just stupid ... you’re talking about a bottle of wine,” he said. “That’s why we love Coach Vermeil, because he does stuff like that.”

Not so loved: Steve Spurrier, who probably wishes he was still coaching at Florida, had this to say after the Washington Redskins lost for the sixth time in seven games Sunday night:

“I apologize to the Redskins’ fans out there that our team has not achieved what I thought we were capable of this year. If anybody deserves most of the blame, it should be me.”

No witnesses: Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, noting Arizona’s meager attendance, asked this question before the Rams played the Cardinals on Sunday: “If Marc Bulger throws an interception in Sun Devil Stadium and nobody is there to see it, is it still an interception?”

Trivia answer: $22,000. Bill Russell, the NBA’s highest-paid player in 1961, made $30,000.

A reason to worry: Russell, once asked why he worries about the future of the NBA, said, “Mainly because I got a pension coming.”

And finally: Bryant Gumbel, commenting on the Keyshawn Johnson situation on HBO’s “Real Sports,” said: “In the spirit of Thanksgiving, how about a ‘Thank God’ to Rich McKay, the general manager of the Tampa Bay Bucs who made like Howard Beale and shouted, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!’ ”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.