Returning your salary for not doing the job correctly.

I've seen numerous stories of people giving up part of their salary or not accepting bonuses, but this is the first time I have seen someone give back their entire salary on the grounds they have not earned it.

Gil Meche, a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals has given back his $12m salary having been injury prone for most of the season. He only made 9 starts and didn't have a single win.

More here

I'm stunned. A lot of footballers in England would have happily sat on the sidelines for a year and taken the money while complaining they didn't get a start.

Even though he is well set for life, it still takes something special to do this.

Kudos to him.

ETA: Here's another cover of the story. The Daily Mail is innaccurate, he is retiring instead of claiming a final year's salary at the cost of $12m.

This is equally rare for USA sports, if not more so. Sure, it's a grandstanding gesture, but it's a pretty freaking cool one.

Yeah, even Lyman Bostock only gave up one month's pay.

Gil Meche did a huge favor for the Royals. However, the newspaper appears to have this wrong. He is walking away from a guaranteed $12 million this year, not giving back last years salary. This is still very rare but not what the paper did a terrible job of reporting.

Quote:

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Originally posted by What Exit?

Gil Meche did a huge favor for the Royals. However, the newspaper appears to have this wrong. He is walking away from a guaranteed $12 million this year, not giving back last years salary. This is still very rare but not what the paper did a terrible job of reporting.

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Right, he's retiring rather that collecting his salary for doing nothing. Still huge.

Quote:

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Originally posted by What Exit?

Gil Meche did a huge favor for the Royals. However, the newspaper appears to have this wrong. He is walking away from a guaranteed $12 million this year, not giving back last years salary. This is still very rare but not what the paper did a terrible job of reporting.

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Thanks for the clarification. I don't know enough about baseball and would have just assumed the Daily Mail article was accurate.

That's pretty impressive, still.

I hereby officially offer to take over his contract and sit on the bench next season. I can not earn his salary just as well has he can, I'll bet...maybe even better! :sci:

Part of me is thinking: "man, that's classy."

The other part is thinking: "man, I'd like to have the luxury of turning down $12 million."