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Is Ayotte's hot-stove league analogy correct?

The Tampa Bay Rays' Wil Myers, the American League Rookie of the Year, high-fives his teammates in September. The Tampa Bay Rays' Wil Myers, the American League Rookie of the Year, high-fives his teammates in September.

The Tampa Bay Rays' Wil Myers, the American League Rookie of the Year, high-fives his teammates in September.

Louis Jacobson
By Louis Jacobson November 19, 2013

Spring training games are still more than three months away, but Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., couldn’t resist offering a baseball comparison when addressing the federal deficit in a recent town hall meeting.

The deficit, she said, could pay "all of the 2013 salaries of every professional baseball player for the next 248 years."

That’s a long time. In fact, major league baseball itself is only 137 years old.

Is she right?

PolitiFact New Hampshire found that getting current salary data is a bit tricky, because different sources disagree on the total dollar amount, but using one credible source, ESPN, it works out to 248 years. The other data produces results of between 236 to 244 years. That was enough to rate the claim True.

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Is Ayotte's hot-stove league analogy correct?