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1987 Baseball Payrolls

This is a team-by-team payroll listings for the 1987 season. The league per-player average was $411,625 and the average team payroll was $10,589,806. You can also view figures for 1986 or 1988 and individual player salaries here. Other financial information is available for many seasons using the tool on the right.

1987 PAYROLLS 1987 PAYROLLS 1986/1988 RANK TEAM AVERAGE TOTAL 1 New York Yankees  $541,598   $17,082,214  2 New York Mets  $553,728   $14,102,214  3 Atlanta Braves  $482,999   $13,520,393  4 Baltimore Orioles  $490,335   $12,913,466  5 Chicago Cubs  $499,287   $12,732,999  6 Detroit Tigers  $534,986   $12,557,881  7 Kansas City Royals  $555,275   $12,148,384  8 Boston Red Sox  $506,573   $12,145,206  9 Los Angeles Dodgers  $404,745   $12,100,987  10 California Angels  $445,375   $12,035,499  11 Oakland Athletics  $415,182   $11,928,250  12 Minnesota Twins  $497,442   $11,671,956  13 Toronto Blue Jays  $497,758   $11,626,334  14 St. Louis Cardinals  $403,646   $11,615,000  15 Houston Astros  $446,682   $11,358,371  16 Philadelphia Phillies  $454,475   $11,301,833  17 San Francisco Giants  $392,124   $9,535,000  18 San Diego Padres  $368,019   $9,484,429  19 Cincinnati Reds  $346,588   $8,536,500  20 Cleveland Indians  $283,551   $7,955,250  21 Chicago White Sox  $344,739   $7,872,800  22 Montreal Expos  $305,412   $7,625,552  23 Milwaukee Brewers  $316,655   $7,617,724  24 Texas Rangers  $235,147   $6,342,718  25 Seattle Mariners  $218,960   $5,499,500  26 Pittsburgh Pirates  $160,980   $4,024,500

Sources: Toronto Star/USA Today November 11, 1987.

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.