$589 thousand dollars. This Year baseball will start the 2001 season with an average player salary of more than $2 million, about 40 times higher than the typical wage in 1976 when free agency began. Average Major League Player Salaries 1976-2000Year Average Increase/decrease Median1976 $52,300 --- *1977 74,000 41.49% *1978 97,800 32.16% *1979 121,900 24.64% *1980 146,500 20.18% *1981 196,500 34.13% *1982 245,000 24.68% *1983 289,000 17.96% 207,5001984 325,900 12.77% 229,7501985 368,998 13.22% 265,8331986 410,517 11.25% 275,0001987 402,579 -1.93% 235,0001988 430,688 6.98% 235,0001989 489,539 13.66% 280,0001990 589,483 20.42% 350,0001991 845,383 43.41% 412,0001992 1,012,424 19.76% 392,5001993 1,062,780 4.97% 371,5001994 1,154,486 8.63% 450,0001995 1,094,440 -5.20% 275,0001996 1,101,455 0.64% 300,0001997 1,314,420 19.33% 400,0001998 1,377,196 4.78% The constant rise in player’s salaries has created huge disparity in the overall, total payrolls of Major League teams, and it is getting ...
