Two-way baseball star Shohei Ohtani signed a ten-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers last week for a record $700 million. In other words, he will be making $70 million a year. It far surpasses the deal that Aaron Judge signed with the Yankees a year ago...a nine-year deal worth $360 million or $40 million a year. It's hard to believe how pro sports salaries have exploded in the last few years. It was back in 1979 when Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan became the first pro athlete to make a million bucks per season...and from there salaries began to sky-rocket.
According to Forbes magazine, in 2010 golfer Tiger Woods made in excess of $100 million and the highest paid baseball player was Alex Rodriguez.
That was 14 years ago and the present day salary leader is Ohtani with soccer star Cristiano Renaldo a distant second at $536 million. And now we wonder why most American families can't afford to attend a professional sporting event. We also wonder why cokes cost $8 and hot dogs are $10 at big league ballparks.
With Ohtani on the mound and in the batting order, the Dodgers will have one of the most feared lineups in baseball history...with Ohtani joining Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
That's quite an impressive trio and should be enough to make the Dodgers big favorites to win the World Series. The 29 year old Ohtani was the biggest free agent on the market during the off season, much like Aaron Judge a year ago. In fact, it's apparent that Ohtani is the biggest free agent ever.
Prior to 1970, there was no free agency in baseball. That changed when Cardinal's outfielder Curt Flood was traded to another team, wrote then commissioner Bowie Kuhn a letter asking to be declared a free agent and when Kuhn denied his request, he sued Kuhn and Major League Baseball. Flood won the lawsuit which ended Baseball's "Reserve Clause." And in 1974 Jim "Catfish" Hunter became the first free agent to sign with another team when he signed with the New York Yankees.
Ohtani owes a lot to Curt Flood for that $700 million deal. There is still some debate about Ohtani being the best player ever and to be honest, it's hard to argue with his amazing stats as a pitcher and a designated hitter. He would be one of the game's greatest stars if he was just a pitcher or just an everyday player, but he's not. A fast ball close to 100 miles per hour easily makes him a big-time pitcher and his batting stats including a .304 batting average with 44 home runs in 2023 with the Angels also makes him a mega-star. However I'm not sure he's worth $70 million a year.
In 1929, Babe Ruth was the highest paid athlete, making $80,000 a year, which was more money than U.S. President Herbert Hoover made. When asked if he deserves more money than the president, Ruth replied, "Why not? I had a better year than he did."
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