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of the ten highest paid players in the game were paid less than deserved. On average, a major league owner profited by seventy-four percent by way of underpaying players (12). This underpayment occurred in 1997, but nowadays players make more per win for owners. Based on current spending, it appears as though a win is worth more than two million dollars to owners (Grabiner). The value of a win will continue to rise with inflation and the rising cost for a fan to attend the game. Therefore, the players' salaries should continue to rise to prevent the owners from profiting more and more from the players' hard work.

While the best players in the game are paid high salaries for the revenue increase to owners, younger, talented players' salaries are restricted due to the rules of the game. In the first six years of a career, the athlete settles for far less money than he is worth. The reserve clause in major league contracts provides the teams practically complete power in negotiations for these years (Depken 7). Therefore, salaries of these players fall closer to what the owner wants to pay for them than what the player should be paid. When the player is finally allowed to negotiate for himself in free agency, his salary shifts toward what he deserves to be paid. Becoming a free agent and negotiating for oneself allows the player to make closer to this amount but the player previously lost a considerable amount of potential money in the years prior to free agency. Therefore, players will never receive compensation for the money lost when they were without the power to bargain their own contracts.
However, some players are eligible for arbitration after their second season. The top seventeen percent, in terms of playing time, of the third-year players as well as all players with more than three seasons, but less than six, of experience can take part in arbitration (Grabiner). Arbitration allows for the player to request a salary and the owner to request a salary for this player then allow a third-party to determine the correct salary between these two. Therefore, players have to defend themselves in order to make closer to what they are worth. Still, players with less than two years of play have no rights at all and play for the league minimum salary. In 1997, the average rookie batter created $1.3 million of surplus to owners due to this set salary (Depken 12). Due to the contract rules, owners unfairly accumulate a profit from these underpaid athletes. Arbitration

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