Famous First Salary Levels by Baseball Almanac

Famous First Salary Levels

Baseball players have always been able to pay the bills. A typical Major League ballplayer has an average salary ten times greater than the average working person. Here are a few players that were the first to reach various landmark salaries.

Note: Salary is defined for this section as the amount paid to a player from a team for a single season of play. Amounts below often exceed the level listed and attempts to be specific have been made where possible (George Foster made $2.04 million), but the player is the first to break the two-million dollar threshold.

"The only way you can get along with newspaper men is to be like Dizzy Dean, say something one minute and something different the next." - (1^stMajor Leauge Player Paid $100,000 a year) Hank Greenberg

Famous First Salary Levels In Chronological Order
Date	Salary	Player	Team	Lg
03-05-1922	$50,000	Babe Ruth	New York	AL
01-18-1947	$100,000	Hank Greenberg	Pittsburgh	NL
11-19-1979	$1,000,000	Nolan Ryan	Houston	NL
02-07-1982	$2,040,000	George Foster	New York	NL
11-22-1989	$3,000,000	Kirby Puckett	Minnesota	AL
06-27-1990	$4,700,000	Jose Canseco	Oakland	AL
02-08-1991	$5,380,250	Roger Clemens	Boston	AL
03-02-1992	$7,100,000	Ryne Sandberg	Chicago	NL
01-31-1996	$8,500,000	Ken Griffey, Jr.	Seattle	AL
11-19-1996	$11,000,000	Albert Belle	Chicago	AL
12-12-1997	$12,500,000	Pedro Martinez	Boston	AL
10-26-1998	$13,000,000	Mike Piazza	New York	NL
12-12-1998	$15,000,000	Kevin Brown	Los Angeles	NL
10-20-2000	$17,000,000	Carlos Delgado	Toronto	AL
12-11-2000	$20,000,000	Manny Ramirez	Boston	AL
12-11-2000	$21,000,000	Alex Rodriguez	Texas	AL
	$25,000,000
	$27,000,000
Date	Salary	Player	Team	Lg
Famous First Baseball Salary Levels

High bonuses or incentives are not a new invention by teams trying to lower their team payroll: In 1951,Paul Pettit became the first player given a $100,000 bonus and in 1922 Babe Ruth received $500 per home run.

In 1991, Brien Taylor, a first round first selection / non-Major League player, became the first player given a million dollar signing bonus and in 1995, the New York Yankees payroll became the first to have an average player salary in excess of two million dollars.

Alex Rodriguez has signed the most lucrative contract in baseball history. From 2001 through 2004 his salary is twenty-one million. In 2005 he will receive a four million dollar per year pay raise and in 2007 he will receive a six million dollar pay raise.

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