The List of highest paid baseball players reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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List of highest paid baseball players

Annual Salary

The following chart reveals the evolution of the highest paid player in Major League Baseball.

YEAR - $ SALARY/YR - PLAYER            - TEAM/ORGANIZATION
1930       $80,000 - Babe Ruth 
1985 -  $2,130,300 - Mike Schmidt      - Philadelphia Phillies
1986 -  $2,800,000 - George Foster
1990 -  $3,200,000 - Robin Yount
1991 -  $3,800,000 - Darryl Strawberry - 
1992 -  $6,100,000 - Bobby Bonilla
1993 -  $6,200,000 - Bobby Bonilla
1994 -  $6,300,000 - Bobby Bonilla
1995 -  $9,237,500 - Cecil Fielder
1997 - $10,000,000 - Albert Belle
1998 - $14,936,667 - Gary Sheffield
2000 - $15,714,286 - Kevin Brown
2001 - $22,000,000 - Alex Rodriguez

- - - - - - - - - - - - - unconfirmed - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

YEAR - $ SALARY/YR - PLAYER            - TEAM/ORGANIZATION
1927       $70,000 - Babe Ruth 
1949      $100,000 - Ted Williams 
1961 -     $75,000 - Mickey Mantle
1966 -    $130,000 - Willie Mays 
1972      $200,000 - Hank Aaron 
1979 -             - Pete Rose 
1980 -  $1,000,000 - Nolan Ryan        - Houston Astros - 1st player to pass $1 million a yaer mark
1981 -  $2,000,000 - Dave Winfield 

Total earngings

The following chart reveals the
Major League Baseball players that have earned the most total salary in their career (through the end of 2003).

$109,845,000 - Greg Maddux 
$104,463,215 - Barry Bonds
$ 99,461,930 - Kevin Brown 
$ 98,001,000 - Roger Clemens
$ 97,376,294 - Albert Belle (retired)
$ 95,159,654 - Ken Griffey, Jr
$ 94,295,000 - Randy Johnson 
$ 93,010,002 - Gary Sheffield 
$ 90,568,000 - Sammy Sosa
$ 85,030,097 - Larry Walker
$ 83,765,000 - Barry Larkin
$ 83,238,334 - Mo Vaughn
$ 82,437,500 - Juan Gonzalez
$ 82,297,996 - Rafael Palmeiro
$ 82,199,437 - Tom Glavine
$ 78,860,000 - Matt Williams
$ 78,283,144 - Mike Piazza
$ 78,027,000 - Alex Rodriguez
$ 77,194,000 - Pedro Martinez
$ 76,700,000 - Cal Ripken, Jr (no data available for 1981-1984)
$ 76,885,715 - Bernie Williams
$ 75,603,815 - Roberto Alomar
$ 74,688,354 - Mark McGwire (retired)
$ 72,014,000 - Frank (Edward) Thomas
$ 68,342,501 - David Cone (retired)
$ 66,599,000 - Carlos Delgado
$ 64,320,000 - Raul Mondesi
$ 63,532,727 - Manny Ramirez