How Hall of Famers rank for salary in 2012 dollars by Graham Womack April 2, 2013 When Babe Ruth signed for $80,000 prior to the 1930 baseball season, as the apocryphal story goes, someone admonished him that he was making more than President Herbert Hoover. “I know,” the Bambino is said to have replied, “But I had a better year than Hoover.” What’s shocking now, more than 80 years on, is not what Ruth may have said—granted, it was a valid assertion in those early days of the Great Depression—or how much the Colossus of Clout commanded. It’s that Ruth’s $80,000 1930 salary adjusts with inflation to $1,086,882 in 2012 dollars. That’s about a third of the current average major league baseball salary, which rose to a record of $3.2 million last year. This isn’t to say the Sultan of Swat was underpaid historically. In fact, before the advent of free agency in the mid-1970s, no player ever received a higher salary in 2012 dollars than what Ruth got in 1933: $1,436,298. Willie Mays came close in 1959, his $160,000 salary that season good for $1,275,616 in 2012 dollars. The $80,000 that Ruth received in 1933, when the average laborer earned $20 a week and 24.9 percent of Americans were unemployed, simply had more purchasing power. This is just one thing I learned through a recent long evening on Baseball-Reference.com. The website added salary information as well as a drop down inflation calculator to player pages not long ago. Culled largely from research by University of Wisconsin professor Michael Haupert, the salary info is a work in progress, with some long-ago players having it for only one or two years. But it offers an interesting glimpse into baseball’s history. Using the information, I ranked every Hall of Fame player for his top salary in 2012 dollars—not necessarily his top actual salary, just whatever adjusted highest with inflation. What I found confirmed how good ballplayers have it today. It also showed the degree to which nearly every other generation of players has been exploited by its clubs. In the interest of readability, I’ll split the following list into three parts. We’ll start with the 39 Hall of Famers who have received at least $1 million in a season in 2012 dollars: Rank Player Actual salary Salary in 2012 dollars 1 Barry Larkin $9,000,000 in 2001 $11,812,817 2 Kirby Puckett $7,200,000 in 1997 $10,423,881 3 Roberto Alomar $7,939,664 in 2002 $10,259,133 4 Cal Ripken $6,700,000 in 1995 $10,219,000 5 Ryne Sandberg $5,975,000 in 1993 $9,612,854 6 Tony Gwynn $6,300,000 in 2000 $8,502,261 7 Andre Dawson $4,875,000 in 1993 $7,843,124 8 Rickey Henderson $4,800,000 in 1994 $7,526,538 9 Wade Boggs $4,724,316 in 1995 $7,205,639 10 Nolan Ryan $4,200,000 in 1992 $6,955,845 11 Paul Molitor $4,500,000 in 1995 $6,863,507 12 Eddie Murray $4,125,000 in 1992 $6,831,634 13 Dennis Eckersley $3,800,000 in 1993 $6,113,614 14 Robin Yount $3,200,000 in 1990 $5,692,511 15 Dave Winfield $3,300,000 in 1991 $5,630,882 16 George Brett $3,105,000 in 1991 $5,298,148 17 Ozzie Smith $3,500,000 in 1996 $5,186,505 18 Mike Schmidt $2,130,300 in 1985 $4,603,346 19 Gary Carter $2,160,714 in 1986 $4,581,186 20 Jim Rice $2,354,748 in 1989 $4,414,915 21 Goose Gossage $1,713,333 in 1985 $3,702,326 22 Bruce Sutter $1,729,167 in 1986 $3,666,212 23 Bert Blyleven $2,000,000 in 1991 $3,412,656 24 Phil Niekro $1,325,367 in 1981 $3,388,127 25 Carlton Fisk $1,750,000 in 1990 $3,113,092 26 Catfish Hunter $640,000 in 1975 $2,764,230 27 Reggie Jackson $1,103,000 in 1982 $2,656,328 28 Steve Carlton $1,125,000 in 1983 $2,625,125 29 Rod Carew $800,000 in 1979 $2,561,761 30 Tom Seaver $1,136,262 in 1985 $2,455,338 31 Rollie Fingers $1,065,000 in 1985 $2,301,349 32 Don Sutton $875,000 in 1981 $2,236,823 33 Joe Morgan $400,000 in 1977 $1,534,102 34 Babe Ruth $80,000 in 1933 $1,436,298 35 Johnny Bench $400,000 in 1978 $1,425,306 36 Willie Mays $160,000 in 1959 $1,275,616 37 Carl Yastrzemski $375,000 in 1979 $1,200,825 38 Hank Aaron $200,000 in 1972 $1,111,217 39 Tony Perez $391,666 in 1980 $1,104,764 It’s a wonder the list above doesn’t have more names. I shouldn’t be surprised. The minimum MLB salary was $7,000 in 1966 when Marvin Miller became executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. The average American household income that year was $6,900. By and large, baseball’s top salaries rose at a rate slightly higher than inflation for decades. But it wasn’t until arbiter Peter Seitz abrogated the Reserve Clause in 1975 that players began regularly topping $1 million in today’s dollars. The rest is history. The Atlantic suggested in April 2012 that ballplayers remain underpaid, given the slim percentage of MLB revenue they receive. Players still have it about as good as they’ve ever had it. (Most teams do, too. Forbes reported March 27 that MLB revenues are at record levels, with the most valuable franchise, the Yankees, worth $2.3 billion.) Cooperstown is typically slow, by design, to reflect changes in baseball, with the names on the list above primarily the early beneficiaries of free agency. That said, I suspect within 15 or 20 years, there could be twice as many Hall of Famers who will have earned the equivalent of $1 million in a season. Inflation alone will push the historic salaries of some men already in the Hall above seven figures. And there’s a slew of millionaire players awaiting enshrinement. Ballplayers finally have economic clout and precedent, after so many baseball generations where the opposite was true. As Jim Bouton wrote in a postscript to Ball Four, 10 years after its original publication: The irony is that if the owners hadn’t abused the players so badly, we wouldn’t have gone out and hired Marvin Miller and the players wouldn’t be free agents today. If the owners had just doubled the minimum salary, say to $14,000, and given us some extra meal money, we would have been more content to let things ride. Most ballplayers had no idea what kind of money they could be making. I remember sitting in the Yankee clubhouse while the player representative asked each of us what we thought the minimum salary should be. This was when it was $7,000. The players were all saying numbers like $8,000, $9,000, or $10,000. When it came to me I said $25,000 and everybody just laughed. In the years before Miller, Seitz and others revolutionized labor relations in baseball, few players were compensated anywhere close to Ruth and Mays. Even adjusting for inflation, over half the players enshrined in Cooperstown never earned the current major league minimum salary of $490,000. Also telling to me is the attitude of a baseball immortal like Hank Greenberg, publicly doubting in The Glory of Their Times that he really earned his $75,000 salary from 1947 on the field. It makes me wonder how systematically teams pushed players to devalue their services so as to maximize profits. This isn’t unique to baseball, of course. It’s kind of a core tenet of capitalism. Greenberg and 43 other Hall of Famers topped out, in 2012 dollars, between $500,000 and $1 million during their playing careers:A Hardball Times Updateby RJ McDanielGoodbye for now. Rank Player Actual salary Salary in 2012 dollars 40 Joe DiMaggio $100,000 in 1949 $976,783 41 Jim Palmer $250,000 in 1977 $958,814 42 Herb Pennock $55,000 in 1934 $955,522 43 Sandy Koufax $125,000 in 1966 895,385 44 Hank Greenberg $85,000 in 1947 $884,709 45 Ted Williams $90,000 in 1950 $869,378 46 Bob Gibson $150,000 in 1971 $860,805 47 Frank Robinson $160,000 in 1973 $837,661 48 Roberto Clemente $150,000 in 1972 $833,413 49 Fergie Jenkins $190,000 in 1975 $820,631 50 Don Drysdale $110,000 in 1966 $787,938 51 Ralph Kiner $90,000 in 1952 $787,669 52 Billy Williams $150,000 in 1973 $785,307 53 Lefty Grove $45,000 in 1934 $781,791 54 Juan Marichal $140,000 in 1972 $777,852 55 Willie Stargell $165,000 in 1974 $777,571 56 Lou Brock $180,000 in 1975 $777,440 57 Gaylord Perry $300,000 in 1981 $766,911 58 Mickey Mantle $100,000 in 1963 $759,130 59 Hal Newhouser $70,000 in 1947 $728,584 60 Bill Terry $42,500 in 1936 $711,799 61 Willie McCovey $125,000 in 1972 $694,511 62 Rogers Hornsby $40,000 in 1932 $681,366 63 Stan Musial $75,000 in 1951 $671,538 64 Ty Cobb $50,000 in 1927 $668,966 65 Harmon Killebrew $115,000 in 1971 $659,951 66 Lou Gehrig $39,000 in 1940 $646,974 67 Brooks Robinson $110,000 in 1972 $611,169 68 Mickey Cochrane $36,000 in 1936 $602,935 69 Al Simmons $33,333 in 1933 $598,458 70 Frank Chance $25,000 in 1913 $587,879 71 Lou Boudreau $60,000 in 1949 $586,070 72 Phil Rizzuto $65,000 in 1951 $582,000 73 Ron Santo $110,000 in 1973 $575,892 74 Al Kaline $88,000 in 1969 $557,706 75 Luis Aparicio $100,000 in 1972 $555,609 76 Orlando Cepeda $83,000 in 1968 $554,710 77 Warren Spahn $73,500 in 1965 $542,053 78 Dave Bancroft $40,000 in 1928 $541,395 79 Yogi Berra $65,000 in 1957 $537,867 80 Eddie Mathews $67,500 in 1961 $524,967 81 Chuck Klein $30,000 in 1934 $521,194 82 Bob Feller $32,500 in 1941 $513,529 83 Hack Wilson $33,000 in 1931 $504,315 Notice all the Yankee legends listed above: Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra. Contemporary fans may know the Bronx Bombers as the best team money can buy. It’s been this way since George Steinbrenner became the first owner to turn a baseball franchise around through free agency. Historically, the Yankees owe just as much if not more of their success to frugality, to shrewd negotiation tactics like leveraging the promise of frequent World Series bonuses. David Halberstam wrote in Summer of ’49 of Yankee right fielder Tommy Henrich telling Red Sox Hall of Famer Bobby Doerr at an old-timers game, “We needed the extra money from the World Series check. That was our extra salary.” Granted, New York paid better than many franchises. The lower echelons of this list is a who’s who of Hall of Famers from the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and other small market clubs that could not or would not pay more. There was of course less money in baseball in the days before television contracts, revenue sharing and regular ticket sellouts. (The late Doug Pappas of SABR’s Business of Baseball Committee posted historic MLB financial data.) Even the Yankees weren’t immune to harsh economic realities. In his club history, Pinstripe Empire, Marty Appel includes attendance figures for every year in team history. They peak around 1.3 million spectators during Ruth’s career, 2.3 million during DiMaggio’s and 1.7 million during Mantle’s. It’s a far cry from the 3,542,406 the Yankees drew in 2012. Mostly, though, I suspect that teams threw scraps at players because they could. Players had pitifully low bargaining power in the years before free agency, the Reserve Clause making them the property of their clubs for perpetuity. Players were disposable commodities, with legendary pinch pennies like Branch Rickey telling Ralph Kiner upon trading him from the Pirates to the Cubs in 1953, “We finished last with you. We can finish last without you.” There were generally no other competing professional circuits, since baseball has informally received an exemption from antitrust laws since 1922 and has always moved quickly to crush rival leagues. Players who did jump, such as Sal Maglie and Mickey Owen who went to the Mexican League in 1946, faced severe repercussions, even lifetime bans. Players found different ways to make the best of their situations. Some successfully held out like Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, who negotiated together in 1966 for a combined $235,000, roughly $1.68 million in 2012 dollars. Ty Cobb ate for free at Joe DiMaggio’s family restaurant after instructing the Yankee Clipper early in his career on how to properly haggle with Ed Barrow for a higher salary. And Jim Brosnan wrote in The Long Season of teammate Stan Musial advising, “The first principle of contract negotiation is: don’t remind ’em of what you did in the past; tell them what you’re going to do for them in the future. They know what you’re selling; they’ve bought it before. Now promise greater things to come.” For the most part, teams dictated contract terms, extending generosity as they saw fit. Some players like Hack Wilson in 1931 secured windfalls following big seasons. Others were rewarded for loyalty, Cobb, Honus Wagner and others receiving temporary raises while the rival Federal League operated from 1914-15. Beyond this, many of the players on this list got their best salaries at the ends of their careers. I take this to have been token gestures from clubs. It certainly did little to set these players up for retirement. It’s why when the original pension system was set up, it had to be amended for Hall of Famers like Carl Hubbell who initially weren’t covered. Many baseball greats had to play in the minors for years after they left the majors. It’s unheard of today for Hall of Famers, but players did it regularly in the first half of the 20th century whether it was 42-year-old Nap Lajoie hitting .380 in the International League in 1917 or Iron Man Joe McGinnity (who earned his nickname working in a steel foundry) pitching in the bushes until age 54. Others like Chief Bender and Wagner needed coaching jobs in retirement to escape the realities of the Depression. Grover Cleveland Alexander died alone in a rented room in 1950. While surely his alcoholism impoverished and isolated him, his top salary of $236,860 in 2012 dollars couldn’t have helped matters much. Adjusting for inflation, 118 Hall of Fame players never earned the current MLB minimum of $490,000 in a season. Due to technical space constraints, I’ll list some of them here and the remainder in the References section: Rank Player Actual salary Salary in 2012 dollars 84 Jim Bunning $75,000 in 1969 $475,318 85 Eddie Collins $35,000 in 1926 $459,474 86 Jimmie Foxx $27,500 in 1939 $459,474 87 Joe Cronin $27,000 in 1935 $457,689 88 Ernie Banks $57,500 in 1961 $447,194 89 Whitey Ford $60,000 in 1966 $429,785 90 Mel Ott $35,000 in 1946 $417,133 91 Dizzy Dean $25,500 in 1937 $412,250 92 Tris Speaker $30,000 in 1923 $409,219 93 Bob Lemon $45,000 in 1951 $402,923 94 Roy Campanella $50,000 in 1958 $402,768 95-tie Red Ruffing $24,000 in 1940 $398,138 95-tie Bill Dickey $24,000 in 1940 $398,138 97 Red Schoendienst $45,000 in 1955 $390,410 98 Duke Snider $44,000 in 1956 $376,127 99 George Kell $42,000 in 1951 $376,062 100 Nellie Fox $47,000 in 1960 $369,233 101 Carl Hubbell $22,500 in 1937 $363,234 102 Billy Herman $21,361 in 1936 $357,758 103 Early Wynn $45,000 in 1960 $353,521 104 Dazzy Vance $23,000 in 1931 $351,492 105 Jackie Robinson $39,750 in 1952 $347,887 106 Robin Roberts $40,000 in 1955 $347,031 107 Johnny Mize $35,000 in 1949 $341,874 108 Walter Johnson $16,000 in 1916 $341,725 109 Lefty Gomez $20,000 in 1935 $339,029 110 Ray Schalk $25,000 in 1928 $338,372 111 Pee Wee Reese $35,000 in 1950 $338,091 112-tie Charlie Gehringer $20,000 in 1939 $334,163 112-tie Gabby Hartnett $20,000 in 1939 $334,163 112-tie Bill Mazeroski $50,000 in 1968 $334,163 115 Joe Medwick $20,000 in 1938 $330,213 116 George Davis $12,600 in 1903 $325,920 117 Frankie Frisch $18,500 in 1934 $321,403 118 Edd Roush $23,333 in 1928 $315,809 119-tie Nap Lajoie $12,000 in 1908 $310,400 119-tie Fred Clarke $12,000 in 1909 $310,400 121 Richie Ashburn $38,439 in 1959 $306,459 122 Burleigh Grimes $20,000 in 1931 $305,646 123 Luke Appling $18,500 in 1939 $299,083 124 Larry Doby $36,000 in 1957 $297,896 125 Waite Hoyt $16,000 in 1933 $287,260 126 Ernie Lombardi $18,000 in 1941 $284,416 127 Pie Traynor $16,500 in 1935 $279,699 128 Joe Tinker $12,000 in 1914 $278,432 129 Paul Waner $16,500 in 1938 $272,426 130-tie Joe Gordon $20,000 in 1943 $268,615 130-tie Bobby Doerr $27,500 in 1949 $268,615 132 George Sisler $20,000 in 1925 $265,047 133 Earl Averill $14,500 in 1933 $260,329 134-tie Willie Keeler $10,000 in 1903 $258,667 134-tie Honus Wagner $10,000 in 1908 258,667 134-tie Christy Mathewson $10,000 in 1909 $258,667 137 Johnny Evers $11,000 in 1914 $255,229 138 Harry Heilmann $18,750 in 1928 $253,779 139 Tony Lazzeri $16,000 in 1931 $244,516 140 Enos Slaughter $25,000 in 1950 $241,494 141 Grover Cleveland Alexander $17,500 in 1928 $236,860 142 Kiki Cuyler $17,000 in 1930 $236,510 143 Hoyt Wilhelm $37,000 in 1969 $234,490 144 Mordecai Brown $10,000 in 1914 $232,027 145 Lloyd Waner $12,500 in 1933 $224,422 146 Heinie Manush $14,500 in 1931 $221,593 147 Jimmy Collins $8,500 in 1908 $219,867 148 Ross Youngs $16,000 in 1924 $216,979 149 Max Carey $16,500 in 1926 $216,609 150 Goose Goslin $16,000 in 1929 $216,558 151 Earle Combs $12,500 in 1932 $212,927 152 Ted Lyons $12,500 in 1932 $212,927 153 Zack Wheat $16,000 in 1926 $210,045 154 Jack Chesbro $8,000 in 1905 $206,933 155 Arky Vaughan $12,500 in 1937 $202,083 156 Joe Sewell $14,500 in 1930 $201,729 157 Harry Hooper $14,250 in 1922 $197,857 158 Home Run Baker $9,167 in 1916 $195,780 159 Rick Ferrell $12,000 in 1937 $194,000 160 Ed Walsh $8,000 in 1912 $192,662 161 Roger Bresnahan $8,000 in 1913 188,121 162 Rube Marquard $8,000 in 1915 $183,789 163 Rabbit Maranville $8,500 in 1916 $181,541 164 Monte Ward $7,000 in 1891 $181,067 165 Bobby Wallace $6,500 in 1902 $174,600 166 Sam Crawford $7,500 in 1915 $172,303 167 Red Faber $10,000 in 1932 $170,341 168 Eppa Rixey $12,000 in 1924 162,734 169 Buck Ewing $5,000 in 1891 $142,267 170 Joe Kelley $5,200 in 1902 $139,680 171 Stan Coveleski $10,000 in 1928 $135,349 This isn’t to suggest the average baseball player was embittered or had good reason to be. A few years ago, I interviewed a man named Art Mahan who played first base on the 1940 Phillies. In Mahan’s only season in the majors, the Phillies went 50-103 and drew 207,177 fans, Mahan for his part posting one of the lowest adjusted offensive production rates for a first baseman in baseball history. Nearly 70 years later, I heard nothing but gratitude and wonder from Mahan. He spoke of meeting his wife in Philadelphia that year, saying he never would’ve met her otherwise. The $6,000 salary he received, the equivalent of $96,916 in 2012, was better than four times the average U.S. income that year of $1,368. Mahan earned enough, in fact, for a few of his brothers to make down payments on houses. Don’t get me wrong. Since Lip Pike signed the first professional baseball contract in 1866, for $20 from Philadelphia, players have been lucky. To make any amount of money playing baseball, let alone a living wage is lucky. Making the Hall of Fame is luckier still. Every man on this list attained some degree of baseball immortality with his enshrinement. Most, if not all, made more money in baseball than they would have gotten doing something else. Even Bid McPhee, for all of the $2,300 he received in 1887, got a pretty sweet deal, relatively speaking. Was McPhee severely under-compensated in a historical sense, cheated by a system specifically set up to marginalize his earning power? Goodness yes. But I doubt he or any other man here would’ve traded the experience. References & Resources 172-tie King Kelly $5,000 in 1887 $129,333 172-tie Joe McGinnity $5,000 in 1905 $129,333 172-tie Jim Bottomley $8,000 in 1937 $129,333 Rank Player Actual salary Salary in 2012 dollars 175 Dan Brouthers $4,700 in 1889 $121,573 176-tie Jim O’Rourke $4,500 in 1885 $116,400 176-tie Old Hoss Radbourn $4,500 in 1887 $116,400 176-tie Jesse Burkett $4,500 in 1904 $116,400 179 Eddie Plank $5,000 in 1914 $116,013 180 Tim Keefe $4,250 in 1889 109,933 181 Ed Delahanty $4,000 in 1902 $107,446 182 Cy Young $4,000 in 1904 $103,467 183 Addie Joss $4,000 in 1907 $99,771 184 Jesse Haines $7,500 in 1926 $98,459 185 Hughie Jennings $3,360 in 1901 $93,865 186 Chief Bender $4,000 in 1914 $92,811 187-tie John Clarkson $3,500 in 1888 $90,533 187-tie Roger Connor $3,500 in 1889 $90,533 187-tie Mickey Welch $3,500 in 1891 $90,533 190 Billy Hamilton $3,400 in 1892 $87,947 191-tie Amos Rusie $3,000 in 1895 $83,808 191-tie Kid Nichols $3,000 in 1899 $83,808 191-tie Hugh Duffy $3,000 in 1900 $83,808 191-tie Elmer Flick $3,000 in 1901 $83,808 195-tie Cap Anson $3,000 in 1885 $77,600 195-tie Pud Galvin $3,000 in 1888 $77,600 195-tie Sam Thompson $3,000 in 1892 $77,600 195-tie Rube Waddell $3,000 in 1903 $77,600 199 Jake Beckley $2,500 in 1902 $67,154 200 Vic Willis $2,400 in 1900 $67,046 201 Bid McPhee $2,300 in 1887 $59,493 [No salary info on Baseball-Reference.com: Chick Hafey, High Pockets Kelly, Freddie Lindstrom, Tommy McCarthy, Sam Rice, Travis Jackson. Also, I didn’t include Deacon White in this exercise as he’s not officially a Hall of Famer until he gets enshrined this summer.]