This post got me wondering whether baseball players in the early 20th century earned enough to live by playing the game. Apparently not.
> In 1906 Chicago Cubs pitcher Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown won 26 games leading the Cubs to the National League pennant. Despite his stardom, he made just $2,800. He took a coal-mining job at season’s end to help pay his bills. Fellow all-star Christy Mathewson pumped gas at a service station. Walter Johnson dug postholes for the Idaho Telephone Company while Lefty Gomez removed sludge from refinery tanks for Union Oil.
https://www.splicetoday.com/sports/when-ballplayers-had-offs...