List of highest-paid Major League Baseball players

Last updated

In 2019, Mike Trout signed a 12-year, $426 million contract with the Angels, the richest contract in the history of North American sports at the time. Mike Trout 2019.jpg
In 2019, Mike Trout signed a 12-year, $426 million contract with the Angels, the richest contract in the history of North American sports at the time.
Alex Rodriguez earned the highest salary in MLB in 2013 at $28,000,000. He also has the highest career earnings in MLB history, as well as a record 13 years with the highest AAV. Alex Rodriguez 2007-09-29.jpg
Alex Rodriguez earned the highest salary in MLB in 2013 at $28,000,000. He also has the highest career earnings in MLB history, as well as a record 13 years with the highest AAV.

Major League Baseball (MLB) does not have a hard salary cap, instead employing a luxury tax which applies to teams whose total payroll exceeds certain set thresholds for a given season. [1] [2] Free agency did not exist in MLB prior to the end of the reserve clause in the 1970s, allowing owners before that time to wholly dictate the terms of player negotiations and resulting in significantly lower salaries.

Contents

Babe Ruth, widely regarded as one of the greatest baseball players ever, earned an estimated $856,850 ($18,744,127 inflation-adjusted from 1934 dollars) over his entire playing career. [3] When asked whether he thought he deserved to earn $80,000 a year ($1,401,434 inflation-adjusted), while the president, Herbert Hoover, had a $75,000 salary, Ruth famously remarked, "What the hell has Hoover got to do with it? Besides, I had a better year than he did." [4] [5]

Pitcher Nolan Ryan was the first player to earn an annual salary above $1 million, signing a $4.5 million, 4-year contract with the Houston Astros in 1979. [6] Kirby Puckett and Rickey Henderson signed the first contracts which paid an average of $3 million a year in November 1989. In 1990, Jose Canseco signed for 5 years and $23.5 million, making him the first player to earn an average of $4 million a year. It wasn't until 2010 when the MLB average salary rose above that same mark. [7] [8]

Alex Rodriguez has signed two record-breaking contracts over the course of his career. First, he signed a $252 million, 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers in December 2000 ($428,229,565 inflation-adjusted from 2000 dollars). [9] Sandy Alderson called the deal "stupefying", while Sports Illustrated noted that Rodriguez's early salaries under the contract ($21 million) would be greater than the annual payroll of the entire Minnesota Twins team that year ($15.8 million). [9] The deal was the largest sports contract in history, doubling the total value of Kevin Garnett's $126 million National Basketball Association contract (the previous record holder) and more than doubling Mike Hampton's $121 million contract, the previous MLB record which had been signed just days before. [9] The Rangers later traded Rodriguez to the Yankees in exchange for Alfonso Soriano before the 2004 season, though they agreed to pay $67 million of the $179 million outstanding on the contract. [10] Despite this, he opted out of the remainder of his deal after the 2007 season and renegotiated a new $275 million, 10-year agreement with the Yankees, breaking his own record for the largest sports contract. [11] Under this deal, Rodriguez also received $6 million when he tied the career home run total of Willie Mays (660), and would have received $6 million more had he tied Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755), and Barry Bonds (762), along with another $6 million for breaking Bonds' mark. [11]

Five of the twenty highest-paid players in 2013 were members of the Yankees. Their team payroll for 2013 was $228,835,490, roughly $12 million above the second-largest Los Angeles Dodgers. [12] The Yankees have drawn criticism for their payroll, with some claiming it undermines the parity of MLB. [13] [14] From 2003-2020, the Yankees' payroll exceeded the luxury tax threshold every year except 2018. [15]

Key

Key
Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
1B First baseman
2B Second baseman
3B Third baseman
SS Shortstop
LF Left fielder
CF Center fielder
RF Right fielder
C Catcher
SP Starting pitcher
RP Relief pitcher
DH Designated hitter

Highest annual salaries in 2023

This table refers to the salary for 2023 alone, not the overall average value or amount of the contract.

RankNamePositionTeam(s)SalaryRef
1 Max Scherzer SP Texas Rangers $43,333,333 [16]
Justin Verlander Houston Astros [17]
3 Aaron Judge OF New York Yankees $40,000,000 [18]
4 Anthony Rendon 3B Los Angeles Angels $38,571,428 [19]
5 Mike Trout CF$37,116,666 [20]
6 Gerrit Cole SP New York Yankees $36,000,000 [21]
7 Corey Seager SS Texas Rangers $35,500,000 [22]
8 Nolan Arenado 3B St. Louis Cardinals $35,025,000 [23]
9 Stephen Strasburg SP Washington Nationals $35,000,000 [24]
10 Francisco Lindor SS New York Mets $34,100,000 [25]

Top 10 Career earnings thru 2023 season

Though retired since 2007, Barry Bonds' career earnings of over $192 million still ranks 25th-highest overall in MLB history. 20060825 Barry Bonds follow through.jpg
Though retired since 2007, Barry Bonds' career earnings of over $192 million still ranks 25th-highest overall in MLB history.
Earnings up to date as of the end of the 2023 season. [E]
NameTeam(s)PositionYearsEarningsRef
Alex Rodriguez Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers
New York Yankees
SS, 3B1994–2016$445,159,552 [26]
Miguel Cabrera Florida Marlins
Detroit Tigers
1B2003–2023$385,188,684 [27]
Justin Verlander Detroit Tigers
Houston Astros
New York Mets
SP2006–Present$350,921,555 [28]
Albert Pujols St. Louis Cardinals
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
1B, OF, DH2001–2022$341,810,741 [29]
Zack Greinke Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Arizona Diamondbacks
Houston Astros
SP2004–Present$303,474,948 [30]
Clayton Kershaw Los Angeles Dodgers SP2009–Present$291,176,411 [31]
Derek Jeter New York Yankees SS1995–2014$266,315,981 [32]
CC Sabathia Cleveland Indians
Milwaukee Brewers
New York Yankees
SP2001–2019$263,500,000 [33]
Max Scherzer Arizona Diamondbacks
Detroit Tigers
Washington Nationals
Los Angeles Dodgers
New York Mets
Texas Rangers
SP2008–Present$256,241,666 [34]
Robinson Canó New York Yankees
Seattle Mariners
New York Mets
San Diego Padres
Atlanta Braves
2B, DH2005–2022$252,057,791 [35]

Salary progression

Nolan Ryan (pictured) became the first player to earn an average salary above $1 million in 1979. 17 years later Albert Belle became the first player to average above $10 million a year. Nolan Ryan in Atlanta close-up.jpg
Nolan Ryan (pictured) became the first player to earn an average salary above $1 million in 1979. 17 years later Albert Belle became the first player to average above $10 million a year.
This list documents the progression of the highest average annual value contracts/contract extensions. [36] [P]
Average annual salaryDate signedNameTeamPositionContract duration
(Years)
Ref(s)
$166,667February 17, 1971 Carl Yastrzemski Boston Red Sox OF3 [37]
$250,000February 27, 1973 Dick Allen Chicago White Sox 1B3 [38]
$640,000December 31, 1974 Catfish Hunter New York Yankees 3B5 [39]
$800,000February 3, 1979 Rod Carew California Angels 1B5 [40]
$1,170,000November 19, 1979 Nolan Ryan Houston Astros SP3 [6] [41]
$2,500,000 [a] December 15, 1980 Dave Winfield New York Yankees RF10 [42] [43]
$2,600,000September 4, 1985 Eddie Murray Baltimore Orioles 1B5 [44] [45]
$2,633,333 [b] February 16, 1989 Orel Hershiser Los Angeles Dodgers SP3 [46] [47]
$2,970,000November 17, 1989 Bret Saberhagen Kansas City Royals SP3 [48] [49]
$3,000,000 [c] November 22, 1989 Kirby Puckett Minnesota Twins CF3 [50] [51]
$3,200,000December 1, 1989 Mark Langston California Angels SP5 [52] [53]
$3,250,000December 11, 1989 Mark Davis Kansas City Royals SP4 [54] [55]
$3,500,000January 17, 1990 Dave Stewart Oakland Athletics SP2 [56] [57]
$3,750,000January 22, 1990 Will Clark San Francisco Giants 1B4 [58] [59]
$3,860,000April 9, 1990 Don Mattingly New York Yankees 1B5 [60] [61]
$4,700,000June 28, 1990 Jose Canseco Oakland Athletics RF/DH5 [62] [63]
$5,380,000February 2, 1991 Roger Clemens Boston Red Sox SP4 [64] [65]
$5,800,000December 2, 1991 Bobby Bonilla New York Mets 3B/RF5 [66] [67]
$7,100,000March 2, 1992 Ryne Sandberg Chicago Cubs 2B4 [68] [69]
$7,290,000December 6, 1992 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants LF6 [70]
$8,500,000January 31, 1996 Ken Griffey Jr. Seattle Mariners CF4 [71] [72]
$11,000,000November 19, 1996 Albert Belle Chicago White Sox LF5 [73] [74]
$11,450,000March 20, 1997 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants LF2 [75]
$11,500,000August 10, 1997 Greg Maddux Atlanta Braves SP5 [76] [77]
$12,500,000December 10, 1997 Pedro Martínez Boston Red Sox SP6 [78] [79]
$13,000,000October 26, 1998 Mike Piazza New York Mets C7 [80] [81]
$13,333,333November 25, 1998 Mo Vaughn Anaheim Angels 1B6 [82] [83]
$15,000,000December 12, 1998 Kevin Brown Los Angeles Dodgers SP7 [84] [85]
$15,450,000 [d] August 11, 2000 Roger Clemens New York Yankees SP2 [d] [64] [86]
$17,000,000October 20, 2000 Carlos Delgado Toronto Blue Jays 1B4 [87] [88]
$25,200,000December 10, 2000 Alex Rodriguez Texas Rangers SS10 [9] [89]
$27,500,000December 13, 2007 Alex Rodriguez New York Yankees 3B10 [11] [89]
$30,714,285January 15, 2014 Clayton Kershaw Los Angeles Dodgers SP7 [90]
$31,000,000March 27, 2014 Miguel Cabrera Detroit Tigers 1B8 [91]
$34,400,000December 8, 2015 Zack Greinke Arizona Diamondbacks SP6 [92]
$35,541,667March 19, 2019 Mike Trout Los Angeles Angels CF12 [93]
$36,000,000December 16, 2019 Gerrit Cole New York Yankees SP9 [94]
$43,333,333November 29, 2021 Max Scherzer New York Mets SP3 [95]
$46,081,476 [f] December 11, 2023 Shohei Ohtani Los Angeles Dodgers SP10 [96]

See also

Footnotes

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