On March 12, 1934, St. Louis Cardinals rookie Paul “Daffy” Dean ends his holdout. Dean will win 19 games for the Cardinals in his first major league season. Helping them to the 1934 Wrold Series, Dean will win 2 games for the Cardinal’s helping them defeat the Tigers for the 1934 Championship.
On January 17, 1934, the New York Giants come to contract terms with National League Most Valuable Player Carl Hubbell. “The King,” who won league honors unanimously in 1933, will earn $18,000 for the upcoming season. The Giants will be well rewarded as Hubbell will lead the league in ERA, CG and SV’s and finish…
1933 – Babe Ruth, another victim of the Great Depression, takes a pay cut of $23,000 from his previous salary of $75,000.
On January 11, 1932 — Bill Terry sends his $13,500 contract back to the New York Giants, telling writers he is “thoroughly disgusted.” in a classic “sign of the times” move. Terry, who just missed the National League batting title, led the league in runs (121) and triples (20), and collected a second-best…
Hack Wilson, who set National League records last season when he drove in 191 runs and hit 56 home runs, a mark since surpassed in 1998 by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, signs for $35,000. The 31 year-old Cub outfielder’s 1930 RBI total remains one of the game’s most enduring records.
1930 – Babe Ruth signs a two-year contract with the New York Yankees for $160,000. At $80,000 per year, he becomes the highest-paid player of all time.
Babe Ruth becomes the highest paid player in major league history when the Yankees announce the Bambino will earn $70,000 per season for the next three years. The ‘Sultan of Swat,’ who had asked for $100,000, meets Colonel Jacob Ruppert at the owner’s brewery in the Yorkville section of Manhattan to finalize the historic deal.
On April 29, 1923, the New York Yankees sign 20-year-old prospect Lou Gehrig to a contract paying him a salary of $2,000 and a bonus of $1,500. Yankee scout Paul Krichell had watched the Columbia University star blast a 450-foot home run against New York University one day earlier… @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IGp1c3QgY2xpY2sgdGhlIHRhZ3MhICAiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsImxpbmtfdG9fdGVybV9wYWdlIjoib24iLCJzZXBhcmF0b3IiOiIgfCAiLCJjYXRlZ29yeV90eXBlIjoicG9zdF90YWcifX0=@
1922 – New York Yankees star Babe Ruth becomes the highest-paid player in history when he signs a three-year contract that will pay him over $50,000 per season. In 1921, Ruth led the American League with 59 home runs and 171 RBI.
1914 – Washington manager Clark Griffith meets with Walter Johnson in Kansas City and convinces the star to re-sign for $12,500, considerably less than his recent contract with the Chifeds, with the assurance that Griffith would convince the Washington management to spring for a bigger contract later. Washington will later sign Johnson to $16,000 a year for five years. Griffith gets $6,000 from Charles Comiskey to allow Johnson to repay his Chifed signing bonus.
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