Comments for The History of the Highest Paid Player in Baseball at http://www.wezen-ball.com , comment 1 to 21 out of 20 comments http://www.wezen-ball.com Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:31:07 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-208 she see how far you can take this back. I remember reading about koufax being the first pitcher over 100k, but I'd be interested to see what some of the other greats made. - Peter L Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:46:15 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-207 Didn't Will Clark's teammate sign an identical 4-year/$15 million deal with the Giants after his MVP season in '89? I could be off by a year. - Garrett Hawk Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:14:33 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-206 I did some number-crunching w/this data (eliminating total contract values to focus solely on AAS) and came up with this data: Top 5 percentage increases: 1. Winfield > Ryan (89% increase) 2. Rodriguez > Delgado (48% increase) 3. Belle > Griffey, Jr. (29%) T4-5. Canseco > Mattingly, Sandberg > Bonilla (22% increase each) Also fun: A-Rod's 2007 AAS, adjusted for inflation, is 733% more than Nolan Ryan's AAS. Yikes!! - Ryry Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:33:35 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-205 Shortly after Mark Langston signed the deal mentioned above, his wife came into the dental practice where my wife worked. The dentist who worked on her had no idea who she or her husband was — he just found her so charming that he told the front desk not to send her a bill. When my wife reported the incident to me, and that she thought that the women in question was married to an athlete — and then told me her name — I had to tell her that her husband had just signed one of the largest contracts in baseball history. She was the last person who needed break on her bill. There are many struggling people out there who desperately need dental work done and can't afford it, but in this case, the rich and beautiful simply got richer. - bullfrog Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:49:02 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-204 That 2/3 year deal for Clemens was made because NY wanted luxury tax figure of $10m, and Clemens wanted salary of $15m. Since player's options were included in average, that way Yankees paid Clemens what they agreed and had $5m/year less luxury tax salary. - Davor Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:53:25 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-203 A few people are mentioning Dave Parker's contract from 1979. Here's what I found... If you look at this article (http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E17FC385A12728DDDAF0994D9415B898BF1D3), it says: "Before Ryan reach agreement with the Astros, a team that plays 30 miles from his home in Alvin, Tex., Carew owned baseball's highest salary, an average of $900,000 a year based on a five-year contract worth $4.5 million. Parker has a five-year contract that brings him an average of $775,000 plus interest on deferred payments and possible bonuses. Rose has an average guaranteed salary of $745,000 that could reach $807,000 if he plays 140 games in each of 1982 and 1983." Basically, it looks like Parker's $5 million contract is only that high after factoring in a bunch of bonuses. @martin_s: Viola is kind of an odd case. Not sure what I should do with him. If you look at the Saberhagen source, it says: "The Dodgers' Orel Hershiser had been baseball's richest player. ... The Mets' Frank Viola also has contract believed to be in Hershiser's range." And then, if you look at this article (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CcMTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1gYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6317,3812786&dq=frank+viola+contract&hl=en), it says: "Frank Viola, the 1988 American League Cy Young Award winner, finally reached contract terms on a $7.9 million deal with the Minnesota Twins Wednesday... The deal is essentially the same as the one that made the Los Angeles Dodgers' Orel Hershiser the game's highest-paid player." So it looks like Viola joined Hershiser at the top of the list sometime before Saberhagen signed his deal. Does that merit an appearance on the list? Probably... I'll make the edit. @Chipmaker: If you read this article (http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/05/sports/baseball-rangers-open-the-vault-for-new-gonzalez-deal.html), it looks like Gonzalez signed for 5 yrs/$30.7 million, with two option years that would bring it to 7 yrs/$45 mil. That was not enough to bring him to the top of the list (though it was the highest for someone his age). Keep your suggestions coming, guys. Thanks! - lar @ wezen-ball Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:00:35 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-202 Some sources say Hank Greenberg got $100,000 in 1947, e.g., http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=greenha01 - G m Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:07:13 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-201 One reason, a big one, why the owners were so profligate during the winter of 1989-90, was the new national baseball contract. CBS decided to get MLB and jumped in, blowing away longtime mainstays NBC and ABC with a four year, $1.06 billion package. The owners couldn't spend it fast enough. What about Juan Gonzalez? He signed a deal with the Rangers worth about $45M, around the time Bonds moved to San Francisco. He may have held the title ever so briefly. - Chipmaker Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:10:09 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-200 i think you forgot Frank Viola and some other pitcher who signed a similar deal around 85, 86, 87. I think it was when viola left minnesota and went to the Mets. I remember it being around 3 plus a year but I could be wrong. - martin_s Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:30:47 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-199 I got $100,000 in '49, which I believe was the most since Ruth got $80,000 way back in '31. For years, owners used those number to keep down the salaries of star players. They'd say "You don't think you're better than Ruth (or DiMaggio), do you?" and sign the players for less. Willie Mays famously had to fight for $80,000 in 1959. The ballplayers had no choice, of course, because of the the Reserve Clause. Every player on this list should send 10% to Curt Flood's estate. - Joe DiMaggio Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:56:52 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-198 Awesome list. So Mickey Mantle signed a $100,000 contract in '63. Then 16 years & 10 months later, Ryan signs the $1,000,000 contract. That's 10 times the amount of Mantle. Then 16 years & 10 after Ryan (even with free agency now solidly in the mix) the biggest amount is 12.5 times higher (Pedro). It was pretty close to exponential growth, not out of control growth as the owners have tried to claim. When it got out of control in the 3 years after that...it slowed up. In 2016 someone will probably sign a huge contract worth about 10 times more than A-Rod's 2000 contract. I wouldn't be surprised. - 1982 Topps card blog Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:27:09 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-197 Glad to know you all liked it. @Al Michaels: Here's the article from when Yount signed his deal. It looks like he got his deal done about a week after Mark Davis, so his $3.2 million (3 yrs/$9.6 mil) kept him slightly below Davis' $3.25 million. @Chadb: Yes, Clemens' partial year contract did have a higher price tag than A-Rod's on a per-year basis before the pro-ration. That doesn't really count to me, though, since the pro-ration was just a technical way to pay Clemens the $17 or $18 million they agreed to. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think that puts him on the list here. - lar @ wezen-ball Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:35:56 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-196 Here's a slightly different list of the highest paid players: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/Salary_leagues.shtml - JayT Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:00:01 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-195 Great article. Am wondering if the couple of "part year" contracts Roger Clemens signed with the Yankees a few years back might qualify for the list? Don't recall the specifics, but seem to recall a pro rated $30M salary. Hope I am wrong, that would chap my backside even more to think he pulled that off... - Chadb Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:39:14 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-194 You missed one in the winter of '89. Robin Yount was a free agent and the Milwaukee icon was coming off an MVP season. In December, he signed a 3 year, $6.6 million contract (paying him $3.2 mil in each of '90, '91 and '92). - Al Michaels Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:14:48 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-193 This is great - Ben NS Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:04:38 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-192 I vaguely remember Yaz being the first to break the 6 figure per year barrier (probably after his Triple Crown year) and it being such a big deal at the time....or I'm just getting old. - PhilD Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:55:10 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-191 Loved it. Great, great stuff - Jorge Says No! Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:31:15 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-190 This is really comprehensive, Larry. And particularly interesting to trace the kinds of players who were considered good enough to get that kind of deal. Given the advantage of hindsight, it's fun to think about how vastly overpaid Mo Vaughn, Mike Hampton (who just finally came off the Rockies' books last season), and Fielder were, among others. And, of course, the more we talk about Mark Davis and the ill-executed Royals winter of 1989, the better. - The Common Man Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:58:28 +0100 http://www.wezen-ball.com/2009-articles/december/the-history-of-the-highest-paid-player-in-baseball.html#comment-189 This is amazing! - CollegeWolf Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:44:26 +0100