Salary of a Baseball Player

Major League Baseball Player's Salaries (1967–1997)

The prices of things are bound to increase due to inflation. The salaries of professional sports players has increased at a rate far greater than the rate of inflation. It was just in 2001 that a baseball player named Alex Rodriguez signed a 9 year, $250 million dollar contract and he is currently the highest paid player in professional sports. Over a span of 30 years (from 1967–1997), the minimum salary of a professional baseball player has risen from $6,000 to $150,000. Over that same span the average salary has increased from $19,000 to $1,383,578. In order to pay for these players' tremendous salary, the price of tickets has soared. In 1969, box seats for the World Series cost just $15, with reserved seats priced at $10, general admission at $8, bleachers at $6 and standing room at $4. In 1997, box seats for the Series were priced at $160 and $130. Reserved seats cost $110 and $95, while $50 buys a bleacher seat or general admission ticket. The price of Series tickets has risen roughly 1,000% since 1977. It is only a matter of time before players' salaries get so high that no one can afford to watch them play.

Click for a to view the raw data file.
Sources: Minimum & Average Player Salaries 1967–1997 & Postseason Trivia

Jonathan Hamill -- 2002

External links to this page:

• Have Professional Sports Evolved For The Better Or Worse? MeadeJ9, bodybuilding.com, 15 August 2006

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Related pages in The Physics Factbook:

• Force of a bat on a baseball
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