Talk:Cyclone Taylor

MBE or OBE?

The source given contradicts itself. On the same page as it says he was made an MBE it also calls him OBE. DuncanHill (talk) 01:22, 23 June 2024 (UTC) And the Masonic source says OBE. DuncanHill (talk) 01:24, 23 June 2024 (UTC)

Not the "highest-paid athlete in Canadian history"

The statements that his 1910 salary, and / or salary per game, is highest in history does not stand the test of time. Maybe it applied at one time (sources are books from 1977 and 1990 - though the 1990 book does not exactly repeat the boast), but definitely no longer holds.

As of this date, the text in the article says:

His salary was reported to be as high as $5,250 for the season, which, if accurate, would have made Taylor the highest-paid athlete in Canadian history. A comparison was made with Major League Baseball player Ty Cobb, who had signed around the same time for US$6,500 to play a 154-game season. Since Renfrew only had a 12-game season, Taylor was the highest-paid athlete in the world on a per-game basis.

The footnote continues with:

The figure $5,250 comes from Whitehead's biography of Taylor. However, Cosentino has suggested the base salary was closer to $2,000, with the rest coming from a guaranteed salary outside of hockey and a bond to ensure he would sign. Regardless, Taylor had the highest salary in hockey history.

Adjusting for inflation, this is equivalent to CA$143,200 in 2023. This works out to $11,900 per game in 2023.

According to the data in the list of highest-paid NHL players by season, in the 82-game 2022–23 season, Canadian Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars had a salary of US$13,000,000 million, equivalent to $13,000,000 in 2023. This works out to $158,500 per game in 2023. Even with fine-tuning for differences in exchange rates in 1910 and today, there is no way the data for Taylor is going to catch up with the top athletes today.

Is there some other basis that makes the statement "highest-paid athlete in Canadian history" true? If not, time to delete these statements, or at least do the research to confirm when they were true, and when they stopped being true, and adjust this article accordingly. Jmg38 (talk) 06:02, 23 June 2024 (UTC)

That's been clarified: it was the highest to that point. Kaiser matias (talk) 06:21, 23 June 2024 (UTC)

Hi - I'm going to move or remove the "factual dispute" header from the lead in this article as the point made is far too obscure to dominate the article on a hockey legend. I would prefer you just edit the point for clarity. As Kaiser matias noted, it can be clarified as "at that time". Also, your point about whether the figure was base salary or bonuses is fairly irrelevant, as sports salaries are often made up of components like image rights, etc., but are ultimately measured in gross income by tax authorities.

My preferred solution to this issue is to simply take out the "per game" quote, as an unimportant factoid dreamed up by a writer to sell their book. Nobody evaluates salaries "per game". Think of the range. Boxers. F1 drivers. American Footballers. Snooker players. Association Footballers. Baseball players.

Just because something is written, and qualifies, doesn't mean it should make it into Wikipedia. If someone wants to clarify the per game thing as... "Author so and so made the claim that Cyclone Talyor's salary was higher than Ty Cobbs' on a per game basis..." maybe. peace and love Billyshiverstick (talk) 14:42, 23 June 2024 (UTC)