On the outside chance Steven Aiello’s April 23 letter to the editor, “Athletes have proven more greedy than corporate CEOs,” was not intended as satire, its premise was absurd enough to merit comment.
Aiello somehow equates the three−card monte players of the financial sector with baseball players. While there is skill involved in pitching, catching and hitting 90−mile−an−hour fastballs, anyone can leverage real assets 40 times their worth, bundle them into an attractive package and sell them down the line. Some liken the Federal Reserve System to a giant Ponzi scheme, but this observation might prove complex for Aiello to contemplate.
Ballplayers do not “pay themselves.” I suppose Aiello would like to see owners part with their assets somehow, too.
David Wright cannot leverage his batting average, nor Johann Santana his ERA. Athletes get paid because people choose to watch them perform. If you do not want to go to the ballpark, then don’t.
But a tanked economy affects us all, so to scapegoat a second baseman because he earns more than Aiello only underscores the need for greater economic education in Queens and elsewhere.
Peter Kropotkin
Jackson Heights
