Why is Roger Clemens making a prorated $28,000,022 to join the Yankees in the middle of the season? Because he can perform one very important, discrete task: He gets outs. (And keeps his opponent from scoring runs, but that comes with the outs.) If the 44-year-old right-hander makes his first start on June 1 as hoped, and can get outs at the rate he did playing for the Astros last year—no sure thing, given the tougher competition he will face in the AL East—that works out to about $46,700 per out and $8,700 per pitch. Even by baseball’s inflated standards, that’s astronomic. The Yanks’ winningest pitcher last year, Chien-Ming Wang, figures to earn $850 per out. (Clemens is a bargain, though, compared with injured Mets ace Pedro Martinez, who, if he joins the roster in mid-July as forecast, should make about $57,600 per out.) Here, a guide to how much other well-compensated individuals get paid for their singular duties: making a speech, taking a step, or just getting up in the morning.
TOP ROOKIE
Daisuke Matsuzaka
The Red Sox gyroballer is on pace to make $10,400 per out, though the Sox paid an additional $51.1 million posting fee to his former Japanese team.
TOP CORPORATE SPEAKER
Bill Clinton
The former president makes $250,000-plus per speech, or $4,166.67 per minute for a standard 60-minute keynote address.
TOP TV ACTOR
James Gandolfini
The Sopranos star makes $800,000 per episode for the final season. That’s $13,333.33 per minute.
TOP HEDGE-FUND MANAGER
James H. Simons
The Renaissance Technologies Corp. chief made a reported $1.7 billion last year: $194,000 per hour, every single hour of every day of the year.
TOP CATWALKER
Gisele Bündchen
At a reported $50,000 per runway show (which she rarely books these days), she takes in about $420 per step for three trips out and back.
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