List of highest paid baseball players
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The following chart lists the Major League Baseball players who have earned the greatest total salary over their career (through the end of 2004).
$122,463,215 - Barry Bonds $115,845,000 - Greg Maddux $115,176,216 - Kevin Brown $110,501,000 - Ken Griffey, Jr. $110,295,000 - Randy Johnson $106,568,000 - Sammy Sosa $106,010,002 - Gary Sheffield $103,001,000 - Roger Clemens $100,405,001 - Mo Vaughn $100,027,000 - Alex Rodriguez $ 97,696,764 - Larry Walker $ 97,376,294 - Albert Belle (retired) $ 94,694,000 - Pedro Martinez $ 94,354,573 - Mike Piazza $ 92,965,045 - Tom Glavine $ 90,775,000 - Jeff Bagwell $ 89,242,858 - Bernie Williams $ 88,095,446 - John Smoltz $ 86,437,500 - Juan Gonzalez $ 86,299,000 - Carlos Delgado $ 86,297,996 - Rafael Palmeiro $ 86,032,727 - Manny Ramirez $ 84,465,000 - Barry Larkin (retired) $ 84,392,167 - Mike Mussina $ 78,860,000 - Matt Williams (retired) $ 78,014,000 - Frank Thomas $ 77,830,000 - Derek Jeter $ 76,700,000 - Cal Ripken, Jr. (no data available for 1981-1984) $ 75,603,815 - Roberto Alomar $ 74,688,354 - Mark McGwire (retired) $ 73,510,000 - Ivan Rodriguez $ 73,068,835 - Shawn Green $ 70,015,500 - Craig Biggio $ 68,143,667 - John Olerud $ 68,342,501 - David Cone (retired) $ 65,658,000 - Curt Schilling $ 65,470,000 - Raul Mondesi $ 64,490,332 - Chipper Jones $ 62,446,543 - Mike Hampton $ 61,100,100 - Al Leiter
Annual Salary
The following chart reveals the evolution of the highest paid player in Major League Baseball. A player's yearly salary is considered to be for the maximum value of the contract divided by the term of the contract in years.
YEAR $ALARY/YR PLAYER TEAM/ORGANIZATION 1927 $70,000 Babe Ruth New York Yankees 1930 $80,000 Babe Ruth New York Yankees 1949 $100,000 Ted Williams Boston Red Sox 1966 $130,000 Willie Mays San Francisco Giants 1972 $200,000 Hank Aaron Atlanta Braves 1975 $740,000 Catfish Hunter New York Yankees
Major League Baseball's reserve clause was struck down in 1976, beginning an era of free agency and thus market-value player contracts
1979 $1,000,000 Nolan Ryan Houston Astros 1981 $2,000,000 Dave Winfield New York Yankees 1985 $2,130,300 Mike Schmidt Philadelphia Phillies 1986 $2,800,000 George Foster New York Mets 1990 $3,000,000 Rickey Henderson Oakland Athletics 1991 $4,700,000 Jose Canseco Oakland Athletics 1992 $5,800,000 Bobby Bonilla New York Mets 1993 $5,975,000* Ryne Sandberg Chicago Cubs 1995 $9,237,500 Cecil Fielder Detroit Tigers 1997 $10,000,000 Albert Belle Cleveland Indians 1998 $14,936,667 Gary Sheffield Florida Marlins 2000 $15,714,286 Kevin Brown Los Angeles Dodgers 2001 $22,000,000* Alex Rodriguez Texas Rangers
Ryne Sandberg's 1993 contract was originally for $7,100,000 per year, but he retired before the contract expired and forfeited the back-loaded end of the contract. Alex Rodriguez's 2001 contract was originally for $25,200,000 per year but was later renegotiated to average $22,000,000.
Bibliography
"The Century in Dollars and Cents", Seattle Post-Intelligencer [1] (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/moneyinsports/sportstimeline.pdf)