Baseball Salary

Nick Nicholson's contract with the Norfolk Grunts baseball team says his annual salary will be $1,000,000 times the average of his batting averages for the preceding five seasons.   Nick's batting averages for the past five seasons were .145, .130, .160, .130, and .495.

1. If you were Nick, which average -- mean, median, or mode - would you want to use to compute your salary?   Why?
2. If you were the owner of the Grunts, which average would you want to use?   Why?
3. Nick's contract went to arbitration.   You are the arbitrator.   Which average would you use to determine Nick's salary?   How would you justify your decision?

Adapted from Activities for Elementary School Teachers, 2003

Related InterMath investigations:
Mean, Median & Mode: Is one always larger?
Ten Apart