The color of money

That an African American has been elected president of the United States has thrilled many in the world of athletics, but there’s a couple of groups out for whom the event is not an unalloyed joy.

That would be baseball players and their agents.

Barack Obama has proposed upping the top federal tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, which could cost ballplayers a nice chunk of change.

Obama’s proposal would affect those making more than $250,000 a year and, yes, ballplayers qualify — the league minimum is $400,000.

So look for agents to push to complete any new deals before the end of the year. If signing bonuses are paid before Jan. 1, they likely would be taxed at the current rate and would not be subject to any increase.

"It's something we'll consider," agent Craig Landis said.

See, it's one thing to vote for Obama; it's another to pay more taxes in order to help fund his planned decrease for workers and families earning less than $200,000.

It’s cool, of course, that 61 years after Jackie Robinson integrated baseball, a black man is president-elect of the U.S. — but for many players, the color they’re most interested in remains green.