MLB Financials by Year

Payrolls by Year 1929 | 1933 | 1939 | 1943 | 1946 1950 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 1956 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 2005 | 2006 | Sources/More Info

Major League Payrolls

By Patrick Mondout

BaseballChronology.com has team payrolls for 1916, some seasons between 1929 and 1956, plus 1976 to the present. Just choose a season from the box on the right.

The data from 1977-2003 for each team was compiled by the late Doug Pappas, SABR Business of Baseball Committee. Pappas lists additional figures and sources for most years and it was an arbitrary decision on my part as to which set of numbers to use. The averages do not always come from the same source as the totals, which can lead to some apparent discrepancies. This does, however, give you two sources for salaries for that season and both sources are listed in order at the bottom of the table (contact me using the Contact link at the top-right of this page if you feel strongly that this should be changed). A team's payroll changes through the year as well. It is therefore just about impossible to concisely and accurately list team payrolls by season.

The 1929-1956 data used here was compiled by Rodney Fort, a professor of economics at Washington State University who has a passion for the economics of sports. He has an excellent site full of data related to the economics of sports. It is doubtful we would have any salary/payroll information here were it not for the considerable efforts of Pappas and Fort. Our thanks to everyone who contributed to these figures.

Without free agency and the occasional investigations by Congress, we would not have any figures at all. Here is a summary of primary sources:

1916 payrolls: The February 25, 1917 New York Times lists estimates we use here.
1929-1956 payrolls:
1929-50: House Committee on the Judiciary, Organized Baseball, 82nd Cong., 1st Sess, 1951, P. 1610.
1952-56: Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Organized Professional Team Sports, 85th Cong., 2nd Sess, 1958, pp. 795-798.
Notes: 1929-40 reports include all players, coaches and managers. Subcommittee estimates for Chi A and Bos N for 1929 and 1933; for Phi N 1929.

1977-2005:
USA Today, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, Baseball Weekly, New York Times, and The Sporting News.

Baseball Economics sources/bibliography:
Business of Baseball, The by Albert Powers
Baseball, Inc.: The National Pastime As Big Business by Frank P. Jozsa Jr.
Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside the Big Business of Our National Pastime by Andrew Zimbalist
Built to Win: Inside Stories and Leadership Strategies from Baseball's Winningest GM by John Schuerholz
Free Agency and Competitive Balance in Baseball by Ronald W. Cox
The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present by David Pietrusza.
Getting in the Game: Inside Baseball's Winter Meetings by Josh Lewin
State of Baseball Management: Decision-Making in the Best and Worst Teams, 1993-2003 by Scott Barzilla
In the Best Interests of Baseball? The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig by Andrew Zimbalist
May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy, by Andrew Zimbalist
The Inside Pitch ... and More: Baseball's Business and the Public Trust by Gene A. Budig
Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Late Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball 1945-1972 by Dean A. Sullivan
Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia by John Thorn, et al.