I saw these figures in today’s newspaper: $3 million, $5.15 million, $2,675,000, $3,975,000, $930,000, $3 million, $825,000, $3.8 million, $1.4 million, $775,000, $2.8 million, $4 million, $4.15 million, $1,525,000, $2.3 million and $1.6 million. That’s 16 baseball contracts, mostly for one year, totaling $41,905,000. That’s an average of $2,619,062.50. That’s obscene.

Who are the players receiving these salaries? Guillermo Mota, Jason Marquis, Joe Crede, Brad Lidge, Dan Wheeler, Victor Zambrano, Chris Woodward, Erik Bedard, Bruce Chen, Todd Williams, Corey Patterson, Ted Lilly, Kip Wells, Willie Bloomquist, Orlando Hudson and Alex Cintron. Unless you are a fantasy geek or follow a team religiously, chances are you don’t know these players (I only recognize five of them). And only Bloomquist’s contract is for more than one year (Wells’ contract length is not discolosed). That’s obscene.

There continues to be something wrong with a society that places such value on entertainment and pays those who entertain ridiculous amounts of money, while truly valuable people such as teachers and journalists make criminally meager amounts. Teachers educate — teach you how to read and prepare for adult life, among many things they do — and journalists tell you what is going on so you can make up your own minds. Scientists develop new and amazing medicines, electronics, and technologies — stuff that will be useful to society as a whole — but if you can hit a ball 400 feet or throw 90 mph, you get millions. It’s obscene.

Athletes have a skill. But so do other professional types. And they don’t make close to that amount. Even the President of the United States — the Leader of the Free World — has a base salary of just $400,000. You’d think that position would pay more than any other. It’s obscene.

Maybe you’ve heard this rant before. It certainly isn’t original. But when numbers come up like the 16 I mentioned earlier — and none of them are worth the amounts they are getting — it bears repeating. It is obscene.