MLB pitcher is giving away $420.69 per day. Here's why:
A number of professional athletes donate time and money to local charities.
Few do it the way Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer is doing it this season.
Bauer has announced his own “69 Days of Giving” campaign, in which he will donate $420.69 per day to one of 68 charities. On the final day of the campaign, he will award an extra donation of $69,420.69 to a charity he’s keeping secret.
In all, Bauer is donating more than $98,000 during the campaign.
1) My website is finally live! Check it out here: https://t.co/7ienyNJSrI 2) This is the official announcement for 69 days of giving, a charitable giving campaign I will be running this season! Help me help your favorite cause! https://t.co/ZXUf3Rdm9l pic.twitter.com/YsrG3P0sri
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) March 28, 2018
How he came up with the amounts he’s going to donate is somewhat, shall we say, colorful.
Bauer, a 27-year-old right-handed starter with Cleveland, was eligible for salary arbitration this offseason. The arbitration process is one where players are virtually guaranteed a significant salary increase. The player submits a figure he wants to be paid the following season, and the team submits a figure that they’re willing to pay. An arbitrator rules which of the two offers “wins” the case.
Bauer submitted his arbitration figure that was quite specific: $6,420,969.69. At the urging of his representatives, who suggested removing any numbers with references to marijuana or sexual connotations, Bauer revised his request to $6.5 million. The Indians were offering $5.2 million.
Bauer won his hearing.
“That’s what I want to play for this year,” Bauer said. “I made up my mind. And since I got more than that in arbitration, I decided to give up the difference.”
Still fixated on earning $6,420,969.69, Bauer came up with the idea of the “69 Days of Giving.”
“I’m just trying to give to charity, man,” Bauer told Yahoo Sports. “I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where I have the ability to do that. I have the means to do that. I’m in a good spot. And I can use my platform to spread stuff that I’m passionate about.”
The first day’s donation was distributed Thursday to the Lone Survivor Foundation, a charity that benefits wounded military members.
But Bauer admits part of his plan is to bring light to what he believes is the outdated arbitration process in Major League Baseball.
“When it was first brought about, it was good, because it gave players a way to increase their salaries while teams have years of control,” Bauer said. “I think it’s outdated in a lot of ways now. It suppresses players’ salaries mostly. It should be reworked. The way teams are treating free agency this year, and all the years of team control, it’s got to be looked at.”
Bauer, who despite the marijuana references in his donation plans does not drink or smoke, is taking suggestions on his website BauerOutage.com, for the other daily donations.
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