(AP)Randy Newsom has never thrown a pitch above AA ball. Still, he wants to put himself on the market.
The stock market, that is.
A minor-league pitcher with the Cleveland Indians, Newsom was working in obscurity this month on the crowded back fields at spring training in Winter Haven, Fla., distinguished from hundreds of hopefuls only by the red No. 41 on the back of his sweat-soaked blue uniform shirt...
In January, his company, Real Sports Investments, sold 1,800 shares of stock in Newsom's future. For $20, anyone could buy a share of the 25-year-old's career, an investment that could net 0.0016% of his future major-league earnings.
How much could investors make? The average major-league salary was $2,866,544 in 2006 and $2,944,556 and 2007, so a 0.0016% investment based on those figures would have paid off $92.98 over two years. However, average baseball salaries generally increase sharply from year to year.
I like this idea for blue chip prospects, as well. Imagine if you could have invested in Jose Reyes, David Wright or Derek Jeter while they were just budding prospects...
What if you owned .005% shares of A-Rod? His recent $300 Million contract alone (not including the $200 Million plus he made previously with the Rangers and Mariners) would have made you $1,500,000!
But why would a hot prospect want to sell shares of himself, you ask? Well, what if that prospect's career goes south the way of Bill Pulsipher or Drew Henson or Reuben Rivera? There's no such thing as a sure-thing in baseball. This "investment" money would be the ball player's insurance policy if things don't work out as expected. (Just see how many busts there are in Baseball America's top 100 over the past few years.)
This could work the same way as the real stock market. Buy shares in a player's career on the cheap (after injury or late-round prospect) and hope they blossom. Conversely, the big name prospects would obviously have to be priced on the high.
