Blechhh . . . 2009 SF Giants PABAW* Ratio is an Unsightly 0.85

One imagines fourth-generation San Franciscan Larry Baer and brainy, bow-tied William Neukom at the bygone birthday parties of their youth. Baer was the one canvassing the rumpus room as the birthday boy’s mother cut the cake, using reverse psychology to persuade the gullible kids to go for smaller pieces without much frosting. Neukom, for his part, was applying a proto-bundling strategy, quietly promising the weak and the impressionable that he’d let them jump past him in the pin-the-tail-on-the donkey queue for agreeing to take a less desirable piece.
Things have changed over the years. Baer and Neukom have ascended the ladder to become Giants top brass. Birthday cake has been replaced by obscene amounts of money. And those gullible suckers at the party, well, they’ve turned into you and me. But as the four-color pie chart capably illustrates, one thing has remained constant: wee Larry Baer and Little Billy Neukom still like to take more than their share.



PABAW* Ratio is a proprietary metric developed by Tubesox Nation to measure how freely team management spends the money that they ask loyal fans to shell out. It compares opening day payroll to yearly attendance multiplied by the cost of the minimum experience that should be within the budget of a loyal fan (bleacher seat, one beer, one hot dog).

A PABAW of 1.5 is acceptable. For example, if the Giants charged $10.50 for a bleacher ticket, $6.00 for an Anchor Steam, and $3.00 for a Giants dog, their PABAW would be approximately 1.50.

A PABAW of 1.25 indicates inflated prices accompanied by Scrooge-like parsimony. For example, if the Giants charged $14 for a bleacher ticket, $6.50 for an Anchor Steam, and $3.00 for a Giants dog, their PABAW would be approximately 1.25.

A PABAW of 1.0 is considered extortionate on the order of the 19th Century robber barons. For example, if the Giants charged $18 for a bleacher ticket, $7.50 for an Anchor Steam, and $3.75 for a Giants dog their PABAW would be approximately 1.0.

*PABAW = Payroll/ yearly Attendance x [average Bleacher ticket + Ale + Wiener]

**payroll data obtained from Cot's Baseball Contracts