ESPN’s site  reported yesterday that the average MLB annual salary rose to 2,699,292 in 2006, an increase of 9% over the 2005 season.  

The report charts the steep and dramatic rise in Baseball salaries from 1967 through this past season, particularly the growth attributeable to Free Agency.

The ESPN AP report states that the 2006 average salary figure was;

…according to final figures released Wednesday by the Major League Baseball Players Association. The increase was the highest since a 12.8 percent rise in 2001 and makes it likely the $3 million mark will be broken next year or in 2008.

“The increase in the average salary is a reflection of the growth in overall industry revenues, and that while the sport still has significant economic challenges, the increased average is a reflection of the level of the talent on the field,” said Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer.

The AL champion Detroit Tigers were ninth at $3.06 million, up from 15th.

Florida’s average of $594,722 was the lowest in the major leagues since 1999, when Kansas City was at $534,460, the Marlins at $561,111 and Montreal at $572,290.

Among the teams with the 10 highest averages, only San Francisco ($3.8 million) had a losing record (76-85). Among clubs with the 12 lowest averages, the only one with a winning record was Toronto (87-75).

Third basemen had the highest average among positions ($5.87 million), followed by first basemen ($5.78 million), designated hitters ($5.59 million), outfielders ($4.88 million), starting pitchers ($4.87 million), shortstops ($4.06 million), second basemen ($2.79 million) and relievers ($1.43 million).

Figures were based on Aug. 31 rosters and disabled lists and do not account for money owed to released players or payments teams make or receive to cover parts of salaries of players who have been traded.

These numbers give true meaning to that line of an old Joel Grey song from the show Cabaret; “Money makes the world go ’round…”

This blog normally stays away from commenting on steriods, other drug addictions, gambling baseball players or domestic disputes taken public.

But this story is too absurd NOT to comment on.

Here is a sports agency, an organization which acts as agents and representation for baseball players who earn at levels that you or I can only dream about.

And yet, no longer needed documents with personal information about athletes and their families whom they apparently represent are discarded to trash bins.  And so, a suspected identity thief is found in possession of papers and documentation revealing the identities of almost 90 players.

These questions need to be asked; Hasn’t SFX Baseball Inc. ever heard of that invention called a document shredder?  Does a sports agency which does not take appropriate precautions, i.e. use of a document shredder, really belong representing highly paid professional atheletes, or anyone for that matter?

For more backgound on this story, click on this ESPN AP story;

CHICAGO — Police have found personal information on White Sox slugger Jim Thome and Mets outfielder Moises Alou at the home of a man charged with identity theft.

David Dright, 38, faces 27 counts of identity theft involving “ordinary people” who live in Lake County outside Chicago, said Patricia Fix, chief deputy of the high-tech crime unit for the Lake County state’s attorney’s office.

Fix said a search of Dright’s home Tuesday turned up personal information on retired and current ball players, including Chicago’s Thome and New York’s Alou. He’s suspected of stealing the identities of almost 90 players, Lake County authorities said.

The information apparently came from trash bins outside Northbrook, Ill.-based SFX Baseball Inc., a sports agency headed by Pat Rooney and Fern Cuza that represents major and minor league players.

Dright allegedly went into trash bins outside SFX and took the personal information, Fix said. Evidence was found inside Dright’s apartment after another man complained that Dright stole his identity, she said.

“Fortunately, it does not appear that any of our clients have been adversely affected,” SFX General Counsel Robert Greenwald said in a statement issued Wednesday evening. “We will continue to work to ensure that no identities were compromised.”

Bond was set Wednesday at $250,000. Dright is in custody in the Lake County Jail, in northeastern Illinois, and it was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.

The alleged victim who first complained lives in Lincolnshire in Lake County. Lincolnshire police were helped in their investigation by the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Fix said.

Evidence found in Dright’s home included Social Security numbers, dates of birth, canceled paychecks, obituaries and infant death records.

Charges related to the baseball players would have to come from the counties where they live, Fix said. The police are contacting all the potential victims, she said.