| |
 Ballpark figures Average baseball salary jumps 19 percent to $1.7 million
Posted: Wednesday April 07, 1999 03:23 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball salaries are going up twice as fast as ticket prices, with the biggest escalation in seven years pushing the average above $1.7 million on Opening Day, according to a study by The Associated Press. Baltimore outfielder Albert Belle was the highest-paid player on opening day for the third straight season, earning $11,949,794. Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez was second at $11 million, followed by Los Angeles pitcher Kevin Brown ($10,714,286) and Atlanta pitcher Greg Maddux ($10.6 million). Mark McGwire, last season's star with a record 70 homers, was 11th at $8,333,333. Sammy Sosa, who chased McGwire all summer long and finished with 66 homers, was tied for ninth at $9 million. The 19.3 percent increase, the largest since a 21.7 percent rise prior to the 1992 season, pushed the average to a record $1,720,050 from $1,441,406 at the start of last season, according to the AP study, which examined the contracts of 830 players on opening-day rosters. Salaries rose just 4.2 percent rise prior to last season. With an increase of 16.3 percent next year, the average would top $2 million for the first time. The average price of a ticket increased 9.7 percent this year, from $13.59 to $14.91. In comparison, the Consumer Price Index has gone up 1.0 percent in the last year. And while the CPI has gone up 18.7 percent since 1991, baseball ticket prices have soared 72.6 percent and salaries rocketed up 193 percent. The World Series champion New York Yankees opened with baseball's highest payroll ever, $85.1 million -- an average of $3.04 million per player. Los Angeles was second at $79.2 million, followed by Baltimore ($78.5 million), Texas ($74.9 million), Atlanta ($73.5 million) and Cleveland ($68.9 million). Arizona moved up from 21st at $31.6 million at the end of last season to seventh at $65.9 million. At the other end were three teams below $20 million: Montreal was last at $17.3 million, Florida was 29th at $18.8 million and Minnesota was 28th at $19.1 million. "We've been going through all those over the past few months, but I want to see the final numbers before I make any judgments," commissioner Bud Selig said. In comparison, the NBA's average is about $2.8 million this season, the NHL's is $1.17 million (using a mixture of U.S. and Canadian dollars), and the NFL's is $1 million. An indication of why small and middle markets no longer can compete can be seen at the top of the salary scale. The number of players earning $8 million or higher more than doubled from 10 to 23, while the total at $9 million or more tripled from three to 10. The number of players at $1 million or more rose from 317 to 348 and the percentage of millionaires in the majors rose from 37.7 percent to 41.9. The number at $2 million or higher rose from 216 to 254, and $4 million players shot up from 98 to 128. The $5 million club swelled from 63 to 91. Los Angeles and the New York Mets each had the most millionaires at 18, with Baltimore, Boston and the New York Yankees at 17. Florida had the fewest with four, the Chicago White Sox had five, and Kansas City, Minnesota and Montreal had six each. The gap between the top and bottom decreased somewhat this year. The Yankees' payroll was 51/2 times that of Montreal; last year, when Baltimore had the highest payroll, the Orioles' spent 71/2 times more than the Expos. Total payroll rose from $1.21 billion to $1.43 billion. The median salary -- the point at which an equal number of players are above and below -- rose from $500,000 to a record $700,000. It dropped to $275,000 in 1995 following the end of the 71/2-month strike before resuming its rise. There were 68 players at the $200,000 minimum, which is higher than the average prior to 1982. Last year, there were 66 at the minimum -- then $170,000 -- on opening day. In reality, the amount the Yankees are spending on players this year is more than $91.4 million because their payroll doesn't include the $2.5 million salary of Darryl Strawberry, who is on a minor league roster; $2.5 million they are paying toward the salary of Oakland pitcher Kenny Rogers; $500,000 they are paying Minnesota as part of last year's Chuck Knoblauch trade; $800,000 they are paying released infielder Dale Sveum; plus money they are paying Arizona as part of last month's Darren Holmes trade. The listed salary includes a player's 1999 salary plus a prorated share of any signing bonus or guaranteed income not attributed to a specific year. Contract figures were obtained by the AP from various player and management sources. A different method of calculation is used by baseball to determine the luxury tax. That method, which uses the average annual value of contracts and is based on 40-man rosters, has the Dodgers with the highest payroll, followed by the Orioles and Yankees.
| |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
