Bob sagitt
Dave Winfield signed a 10 year 23 million dollar contract before the 1980 season. First 2 million per year player and at the time was the largest contract in sports history
Mickey Mantle never made one million dollars in one year playing baseball. He made one million Dollars over his last 12 seasons. His Highest salary was $100,000. which he earned each year from 1963 - 1968. He made $5,000. his rookie year, and by his 6th year in 1956 he was making $30,000. Back in the 1960's $100,000. was a top salary in the Major Leagues. Mantle did make a lot of money through player endorsements.
The first player in major league history to earn $100,000 a year was Joe DiMaggio. He signed this contract in 1949.
There were two actually. Pitchers Andy Messersmith of the LA Dodgers and Dave McNally of the Montreal Expos refused to sign contracts for the 1975 season. Because of baseball's reserve clause, which at the time was a standard paragraph in every contract that stated the team reserved the rights to the player after their contract ended and could renew their contract for one season after the previous contract had run out, both played the 1976 season without signing a contract. After the season the two player's case went before an arbitrator who ruled in the player's favor. MLB appealed the decision but higher courts upheld the ruling. Free agency had been born. Messersmith signed a 3 year, $1 million contract with the Atlanta Braves and McNally, who had suffered with arm problems the past couple of years, retired.
Bob sagitt
Kevin Brown.
Dave Winfield signed a 10 year 23 million dollar contract before the 1980 season. First 2 million per year player and at the time was the largest contract in sports history
wade wilson
Larry johnson
Larry Johnson
Brett Favre
It all depends on if they signed a million-dollar-or-more minor league contract or if they were a draft pick.
Larry Johnson
Alex Rodriguez currently playing for the New York Yankees is. He had a 252 million dollar contract for 10 years. Basically 25 million dollars a year.
Shaquille o neale
On November 19, 1979, Nolan Ryan became the first player to sign a contract for more than a million dollars per year. Richard Moss, Ryan's agent, helped negotiate a 4-year, $4.5 million dollar contract for the future Hall of Famer, making him the highest paid player at the time. Although most people would say the above answer is the official first one million dollar a year player, in actuality Pittsburgh Pirate Dave Parker was the first player to make one million dollars a year signing the contract a year prior to Nolan Ryan. The reason he isn't commonly cited as so is because the Pirates worded the contract in a way to make it look like he was making that much because they didn't want to be known as the first team to pay a player one million dollars a year