Mariners minor leaguers rack up hefty Uber bill after seven-hour trip

We’ve heard of fans paying hundreds of dollars to get to a baseball game, but that shouldn’t happen with players. That was the case Monday, as four players from the Seattle Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate needed to take a seven-hour car ride to their next game.

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There’s a lot going on here, and we’ll attempt to explain. But this tweet from Tacoma Rainiers infielder D.J. Peterson helps quite a bit.

It looks like Peterson shared a photo from reliever Mark Lowe’s Instagram page. Those two, along with Dan Vogelbach and Pat Light all crammed into an Uber for a seven-hour trip from Phoenix to Albuquerque that cost them $683.52.

It looks like they were set to fly, but something happened with their reservation. We don’t know all the details here, but given the drastic measures, it seems a different flight was not an option if they wanted to make Monday’s game.

Somehow, they found an Uber driver willing to take them that far. Based on Lowe’s picture, he earned himself a five-star rating for the deed.

First off, let us marvel at both the cost and length of that Uber trip. You don’t see that often. Honestly, we’re impressed.

Second, we realize these are professional baseball players and the money isn’t a huge issue for them. But some of that is due to the fact that Lowe is a major-league veteran, and the others were drafted high enough to receive signing bonuses that exceeded $1 million.

They were somewhat fortunate to be in that spot. Had this been, say, a 38th round draft pick, that would have been a lot of money to spend just to make it to a game. Minor leaguers don’t get paid much, so something like this does hurt. Also, it stinks to get up in the middle of the night and sit in a car with a stranger for seven hours.

The only person who made out well here appears to be Hemant, the driver. Factoring in his ride back to Phoenix, he made about $49 per hour for the trip. The drive home may have been lonely, but at least he has an entertaining story to tell.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik