Every time a season ends Big Leaguesalways the theme of MLB salaries It’s quite important, not only when it comes to free agency, but also other circumstances such as arbitration and multi-year contracts. For a player, being the highest paid among his peers is synonymous in many cases with status and representatives play an important role in negotiating with franchises and making this possible.
Very high figures are increasingly observed, such as the 700 million granted by Los Angeles Dodgers to the japanese star Shohei Ohtaniwho knew how to more than repay that trust by being a key part in obtaining the World Series title against New York Yankees. Even in this free agency market there has also been talk that this amount could be surpassed by the Dominican Juan Soto, who at 25 years old looks like a highly coveted piece, especially after his great performance in 2024.
However, they were not always stratospheric, although the MLB salaries They were always high within the sports paranorama of the United States.
To do this we have to go back to the beginning of baseball as a national pastime. There appears the figure of Babe Ruth, who in 1921, a century ago, earned 50 thousand dollars annually, which made him easily the best-placed baseball player among the MLB salaries for that time. In addition, he received a bonus of $50 more for each home run hit.
According to estimates, calculated at current inflation, the equivalent would be 880 thousand dollars. But, with the end of World War II and the new era of the economy in the United States, that figure was doubled by the emblematic Joe DiMaggio, who in 1949 and 1950 obtained profits of 100 thousand dollars annually.
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MLB salaries became millionaires in the late 70s
To today’s eyes, that might not seem like much. But at that time they were money that was difficult to achieve in professional sports. Getting those MLB salariesit put you in a status similar to that of a celebrity.
The remembered pitcher Nolan Ryan multiplied by 10 what he earned DiMaggiosince he became the first player in the history of the MLB salaries to sign a contract worth one million dollars a year. He did it in 1979 with the Houston Astros.
A decade later Nolan Ryanin 1989, Kirby Puckett tripled that sum by agreeing for three million with the Minnesota Twins, after having been named as part of the All-Star Game of MLB on four consecutive occasions. Already in 2001, he entered the Cooperstown Hall of Fame, which shows that he was worth every penny given by the franchise, which had him as its reference during the 11 years he wore that jersey, between 1984 and 1995.
Come the 90s, strength was one of the characteristics of baseball players in The Majors. Los MLB salaries They were according to the number of home runs that each one could hit. For this reason, José Canseco, in June 1990, signed for five seasons to receive around 4.7 million dollars with the Oakland Athletics. His home runs justified at every moment the expenditure made by the Oakland team, since the Cuban gave them a World Series title.
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Every year MLB salaries increase exponentially
Another Latino, Manny Ramirez made it Canseco seems very little, since he agreed for 160 million and eight campaigns with Boston Red Sox in 2001. That is, an equivalent of 20 million per season, although that reign did not last long. To show what current players get, as is the case of Mike Troutwhich earned 30 million, which was demonstrated individually with its multiple awards from MVPnot so from the collective point of view, since he could not make protagonist Los Angeles Angels.
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Meanwhile, now, the pitchers enjoy great preponderance. there it is Max Scherzerto which the New York Mets offered him 43.3 million, making him the highest paid among the MLB salaries. Just the fact that Shohei Ohtani Having deferred his salary, which was 70 million per campaign, meant that he could not win that place. However, Juan Soto, Ronald Acuña and other young figures could have that place.
Another thing that is demonstrated over the years is that the MLB salaries they are increasing. The growth in advertising, marketing and television revenues have made this possible.
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