A lot of baseball players have short memories. I don't mean on the field; I mean with their wallets. In the minors, you make nothing, maybe $200 or $300 per paycheck. If you make it to the majors, you get a nice raise, but the team will keep you at the league minimum as long as it can. Most guys have to find a way to stay in the majors for three years in order to get a new contract. I know of players who, because of family situations, ended up in big debt by the time that next contract came around. Some of us are exceptions; we get long-term deals early or we get nice signing bonuses, but that's rare. It'd be nice to have a 10-year window to make good money, but we're not all so lucky.

Knowing this, you'd think guys wouldn't be so dumb with their money. But for every veteran who is smart and knows he should save and invest, maybe even start a business -- Tom Glavine, Carlos Lee and Albert Pujols are known to be some of the smartest money guys in baseball -- there's a guy who's blowing his salary on cars and private jets. I've heard stories about players who spend $60,000 on clothes, entertaining women with alcohol and, you know, paying for various other services at clubs. Some of these guys realize they can't control themselves, so they have their agents watch over their money for them. Grown men, on an allowance. Imagine that.

Pros aren't always reckless, though. Sometimes a player can blow money just by being a nice guy. People have a tendency to think major leaguers are millionaires before they really are (and some of us never will be). Everyone expects you to buy things for them, to pick up the tab or to contribute to their charity. Sometimes, even the team is taking a little from you. It's not unheard of for a team to write into your contract that a certain portion of your salary must be donated to a specific charity that the team supports. Now, don't get me wrong -- I'm all for giving my time and money to charities (I got more than 50 charity requests this offseason, but more on that at a later date). It's just that when I do give, I think it should be personal, a cause I believe in. I'm trying to be smart about the way I handle my affairs. Because no matter how good you are at baseball, if you spend like an idiot, you end up broke.