When Reggie Jackson's five-year, $2.9 million contract with the New York Yankees kicked off baseball's free-agent era in 1976, a box seat at Yankee Stadium — the best in the house — would run you $5.50. Thirty-eight years later, the minimum salary for a major leaguer is just below Jackson's then-record amount. The biggest stars earn more for four games than Jackson did for an entire 162-game season. Now, tickets to a Yankees game range from $18 for the bleachers to $300 for the best seats. The connection seems obvious: The extraordinary run-up in player salaries has driven an outrageous rise in ticket prices.

But as any student of the baseball industry — or any industry, for that matter — knows, the relationship is exactly the opposite. As more people spend more money on baseball-related entertainment, baseball raises prices. Even so, game attendance has more than doubled since Jackson signed his big contract. Ticket prices, broadcast contracts, concessions and in-stadium advertising have exploded. And those are just baseball's old-fashioned revenue streams. Today, there's also pay television, luxury boxes and "VIP" experiences, high-end restaurants, logo licensing and collectibles. All of this comprises what economists call "raising the demand curve" for baseball.

More demand for baseball raises demand curves for almost everyone whose living relates to baseball. The increasing value of a slugging outfielder drives up the value — and therefore the pay — of the scouts who found him, the executives who signed him, the minor league instructors who nurtured him, the marketers who exploit his image and the broadcasters who call his games. A team of expensive sluggers requires a luxurious clubhouse, gourmet food, first-class travel, skilled publicists, state-of-the-art training equipment and top-notch medical care.