Adjusted for inflation, buying power isn’t what it used to be in MLB
By Bill Felber
Free agency, then $500k
Another 30 seasons elapsed before the game’s top salary hit the next landmark figure, $500,000. The player who got that award was Mike Schmidt, slugging third baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The arrival of free agency certainly spurred the pay increases. Precise data for the 1950s and 1960s is scattered, but we believe, for example, that Mickey Mantle topped out at $100,000 (which he first earned in 1963) that Ted Williams never made more than $90,000 (1950) and that Reggie Jackson earned $135,000 in 1974, the year after he won the MVP Award.
Catfish Hunter became the first modern “free agent” when he successfully argued that A’s owner Charles Finley had violated the terms of his contract following the 1974 season. Hunter signed with the Yankees for $3.2 million over five years — essentially $640,000 per season. One year later, an arbitrator invalidated the owners’ interpretation of the reserve clause, legitimizing free agency for all players with expired contracts.
The Phillies reacted to the development more assertively than many teams. One of their first steps was to secure their own best player. Prior to the 1977 season they offered Schmidt $2.8 million over five years (that’s $560,000 per year) and he took it.
By modern standards, though, even Schmidt’s half-million dollar deal doesn’t look all that impressive. Adjusted for inflation, that only works out to $2.39 million today. What other player will make $2.39 million in 2023?
New Pirates reliever Jarlin Garcia, for one. This winter Garcia signed a two-year deal with the Pirates that will pay him $2.5 million in 2023, increasing to $3.25 million in 2024.
What did Garcia do to earn Schmidt-level money? In six seasons, he’s 17-15 with a 3.61 ERA across 285 appearances encompassing 322 innings of work, about 50 innings per season.