​Monica Abbott never thought about becoming a million-dollar athlete. Actually, she didn't even put softball and money together in her mind until well after college.

"I feel like I was a little bit naïve because I came out of college and thought, Oh, I’m just going to play softball. I’m going to go to the Olympics, and I’m just going to play softball," Abbott said in an interview with NYMag.com. "I didn’t realize, Oh, wait a second, I might have to do something else besides just play softball, because after college, you have to think about a career, about making a living for yourself. Never in my mind when I was growing up did I think that this was something that I’d have to think about. I just thought I'd be like Derek Jeter or Lisa Leslie or Randy Johnson and play professionally. But then reality hit."

That reality? Softball players don't make all that much money on the professional level. At least not enough to call softball a full-time job for the most part. Even with the emergence of National Fastpitch (NPF), it has been hard for players to make a legitimate living. And many excellent athletes have hung up their cleats due to those circumstances.

Things are getting better, though, and Abbott is at the outset of that trend. The former University of Tennessee standout signed last month what is believed to be a contract worth upwards of $1 million by the Scrap Yard Dogs of the NFP. Abbott is guaranteed $200,000 per year over six years with a slew of attendance bonuses, per NYMag.

Abbott, 30, is likely the first-ever female athlete in an American team sport -- certainly the first in softball -- to earn a $1 million contract. Women's basketball players make millions in Europe and Asia, while tennis players like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova pull in big bucks, though much of that is through endorsements. Ronda Rousey has come on quickly in the world of mixed martial arts, becoming the highest paid fighter in the UFC as of last year.

Abbott's immediate thought after signing the deal thought was how much this contract can help others in her sport.

"I just felt like, if I can be the first one, then who is going to be the second?" Abbott said. "Who is going to be the third? If I can be the first female athlete to do this, how is that going to inspire the next girl to just kick ass on their work project and demand a raise? How is that going to inspire other women? I really wanted to stand in my truth and say, 'This is my contract, this is exactly what it is. What you see is what I see.'"

Abbott helped the U.S. win a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In college, she was arguably the best NCAA pitcher ever, setting all-time marks in career wins, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched, games started and games pitched at Tennessee.

The Santa Cruz, Calif., native has continued the dominance in NFP. In 2012, she threw a pitch at 77 mph, the equivalent of well over 100 mph in MLB. Last year for the Chicago Bandits, she pitched to a ridiculously low 0.31 ERA with 175 in 112 1/3 innings. She went 16-1 and helped the Bandits to the NPF championship. Abbott was so good that she earned that lucrative free-agent contract from the Scrap Yard Dogs, who are based out of Texas.

Attendance is up for NFP games and ratings have ballooned for the Women's College World Series. Abbott sees everything trending in a positive direction and her golden contract is just another example.

"I think that softball is becoming really credible because there have been such phenomenal athletes shown consistently in our professional league and in the Women’s College World Series," Abbott said. "And more importantly, we’re able to share some of the amazing plays and footage on social media. You can see diving catches and big strikeouts. Now it’s creating that awareness."

It's really a catch-22. Players leave softball, because there isn't enough money in it. But the sport's teams will have a hard time making as much money as they can without the best possible stars. Maybe Abbott's million-dollar deal -- and million-dollar arm -- will be a significant building block. Perhaps there's a future where softball players can think about softball after graduation or the Olympics as a real way to make a living.

"In the past it’s definitely been hard keeping players in the league for financial reasons," Abbott said. "They’ve played for two or three years and then they have to go get a real 'big-girl job,' as we used to joke. Now salaries are starting to come up. People are staying in the league longer because they want to play and they’re realizing that you get better after college and there is a big following. So now that more people are playing, there’s more brand recognition and fan recognition of certain players, and that’s huge."

Written by Marc Raimondi

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