Sometimes baseball players make so much money that even the people delivering the checks don’t know what to do with them. At age 23, Diamondbacks outfield prospect Adam Eaton is not yet raking in the big bucks — by baseball standards of course. Since he has yet to play beyond Double-A, you can understand why Eaton was surprised when he received an envelope from the MLB Players Association that contained six checks — each worth more than $20,000.
“(Teammate Cody Ransom) was like, ‘Those aren’t yours,’” Eaton recalled when speaking to the Arizona Republic. “I’m like, ‘What do you mean they aren’t mine? They’re in my name.’ He goes, ‘That’s the other Adam Eaton. Do you live there?’ It had the address on the front. ‘No.’ I go, ‘Do I have to give them back?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah. You have to give them back.’ I thought it over and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got to give them back.’”
The checks belonged to the other Adam Eaton, who is a 34-year-old former Phillies pitcher. That Eaton earned roughly $26 million during his playing career, so the checks were some of his cut from the MLB’s licensing department. This Eaton isn’t even a member of the MLBPA yet. The 23-year-old handed the checks back, and the person who delivered them thanked him for his honesty and said he would inform the other Eaton that he returned them.
“I was on top of the world for a good 30 seconds,” the D-Backs outfielder said. “I get a lot of fan mail for him. I’ve started collecting the cards. I think whenever I meet him I’m going to give all his cards back to him. I’ve thrown some away but I’ve got a stack of 10 or so right now that I’m holding ransom.”
Getting fan mail is one thing, but looking at $120,000 worth of checks with your first and last name on them only to be told that they don’t belong to you must be brutal. I suppose a little added motivation never hurt anybody.
H/T Big League Stew
