Pirates’ McCutchen shrugs off posting of pay stub
A child of the Internet age and the loss of some privacy that comes with it, Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen doesn’t seem overly upset about having his pay stub made public.
McCutchen’s last take-home pay for two weeks’ worth of work was $427,098. That information comes courtesy of a picture snapped by an anonymous photographer of his pay stub that landed on the Internet earlier this week.
“We try to keep our lives as private as possible,” McCutchen said Friday. “Our lives aren’t private at all, though. People know what I make. It’s the first thing people say, ‘Hey, you signed for this much at the age of 18.’ They know all that stuff.”
Major League Baseball players are paid every other Friday, and McCutchen had the misfortunate of leaving his pay stub behind in the visitors’ clubhouse at Wrigley Field in Chicago last weekend.
Someone found the stub — no one has been able to identify who it was — took a picture and posted it on the Internet on Reddit under an account that has since been deleted.
McCutchen, the 2013 National League Most Valuable Player and a four-time All-Star, joked that the real eye-opener to the general public is how much pro athletes pay in taxes. He had nearly 49 percent of his last pay eaten up by taxes.
“I bet they didn’t know anything about that,” McCutchen said. “Athletes’ fee? What is that? That’s one thing. People kind of go, oh, I didn’t know that. Yeah, well now you know. If you want to look, then there you go guys, take a look.”
