The cost of a fine

Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News revisits the brawl between Dayton and Peoria from a different perspective. How did the paying the fines impact the Dayton players?

Paying off fines of $150 to $200 — as several of the Dayton Dragons have been asked to do following their July 24 brawl with Peoria — seems like a small amount of money.

It isn't if you're playing low Class A baseball.

While the major league minimum salary is nudging close to $400,000 and the average salary has climbed north of $3 million, the parent Reds are paying first-year Dragons about $1,200 a month — before taxes.
...
Jeremy Horst — one of the Dragons suspended for three days and fined as well — conserves.

"I have a car, but I live downtown with a host family that won't take any money," Horst said. "I don't have to buy that much gas, although I do have car insurance and a cell phone."

He also has certain meals to buy (the Dragons provide a post-game home meal and road meal money is $20 a day). Horst has a fiancee at home in Green Bay, Wis., and since April, the couple's first child, a girl.