Bonus Baby Boomers

Billy Consolo died the other day. His passing subtracts another name from the list of living 1950s/60s "Bonus Babies." These were young players usually right out of high school who were offered what was then considered a large amount of money to immediately sign with a Major League team. (According to the back of his 1959 Topps baseball card, Consolo got $60,000 to sign. The cartoon shows him hauling off a giant sack of money with a Brink's guard, gun out, at his side.)

Back then, as today, baseball owners in the smaller markets objected to the largesse the more well heeled teams could dump on young talent. So they forced through a stupid set of rules that were triggered by a big bonus. The most egregious rule was that the kid had to stay with the Major League team for at least two years before he could be farmed out.

I have not done a study of Bonus Babies. I would like to, but there are a lot of things I would like to do that my wife tells me are silly and i don't have time for when there are bathrooms to clean and bills to pay. But my rcollection is that a high percentage of these Bonus Babies did not have stellar careers. Now, that may be because they rusted on the big league bench for two years when, as very young men,they should have been competing with other kids and drinking beer with other kids and chasing women of their own age. It may be because most young players don't have impressive careers; a huge percentage of players who start out chasing the dream don't make it.

But it does seem, if not unfair, which is a term I don't like, at least weird that kids like Consolo would be anchoring the south end of the Red Sox bench with insane adults like Jimmy Piersall, Frank Sullivan, Ted Williams and Mel Parnell only too eager to warp the young man's mind and body. First, they're jealous of the dough he got. Second, he might take one of their jobs. Third, those guys just gave kids shit for the fun of it.

Billy Consolo got into 603 games in 10 seasons and hit .221--which was still a lot better than many of the Bonus Babies did.

At least Billy got his revenge. For years his pal Sparky Anderson kept him around as a bench coach (read: synchophant) (as in most of Don Zimmer's jobs) where he reportedly told yarns and tall tales one on top of another to the unsuspecting kids on the Tigers teams. (I can't imagine the veteran Tigers of that era, Jack Morris, Frank Tanana or Darrell Evans sticking around for Billy's Story Hour.) Basically, Billy Consolo became a clubhouse clown and entertainer to the players and a drinking buddy to the boss.

The aging Bonus Baby gone creased and golden brown in the summer suns of too many hapless, frustrating seasons, making the best of bad policy concocted by pallid old used car dealers who wished they were in New York or Boston instead of Pittsburgh.

For those of you who are like me (you have my condolences), here's a good article on the subject: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/cash-in-the-cradle-the-bonus-babies/