The Giants pay $700K in back wages to clubhouse workers

By Craig CalcaterraMay 7, 2013, 3:02 PM EDT
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Scroll past the story about the new male strip club in the Castro and you’ll find this item in the San Francisco Chronicle:

. . . the San Francisco Giants have agreed to pay $700,000 in back pay and penalties to 74 batboys, cooks, clubhouse attendants and other workers after a federal audit concluded the team’s salary practices were improper … The Giants paid them a flat “game rate” salary, although under state and federal law, they’re supposed to be paid by the hour. And the batboys were getting about $55 a game – no matter how many hours they worked.

Which, yes, is a violation. But given that players and coaches tip these guys out, often very handsomely, it’s not like they weren’t getting paid well. Rules are rules though. And with the wage system — which the article says the Giants went to in 2012 — I’m guessing they’re still getting tipped nicely.

Yadier Molina ties record for the most games caught with one team

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By Craig CalcaterraJun 18, 2018, 8:30 AM EDT
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Yadier Molina has two World Series rings, multiple Gold Gloves, Platinum Gloves, All-Star appearances and a Silver Slugger award. He now has an all-time record too.

The record: the most games caught with one team. Last night he caught his 1756th career game with the Cardinals, with ties him with Gabby Hartnett of the Cubs, who last caught in 1941 and set the record in 1940, his last season with Chicago. Molina will break the record next time he dons the tools of ignorance, likely tonight against the Phillies.

Given how badly catchers get beaten up — and Molina has taken a beating at times in his career — and given how well mastery of the position leads to a catcher earning journeyman status, as it were, it’s quite a thing to catch that many games for one team.

Given that Molina is under contract with the Cardinals for two more seasons and has stated his desire to retire a Cardinal many times, he’s likely to put that record so far out of reach that it’ll likely take at least another 78 years to break it, if indeed it is ever broken.