Richest Baseball Players of All Time

In recent years it’s been impossible not to notice just how lucrative and attractive Major League Baseball contracts are — especially when you compare the toll on the human body compared to, say, football. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes and that came with a pricetag of $700 million to be paid out over 20 years thanks to some creative maneuvering. Last offseason, the New York Yankees awarded Aaron Judge with a tidy $360 million deal and no one really batted an eye. So parents, get your children involved in baseball if you want to spend your golden years galavanting around Europe.

Below is a list of the richest baseball players of all time, based on their career earnings.

After establishing himself as a top-tier ace with the Cleveland Indians and putting the Milwaukee Brewers on his back and carrying them into the playoffs, the New York Yankees lured the intimidating lefty to the Bronx by dangling a seven-year, $161 million deal in 2009. Which paid immediate dividends as Sabathia led the American League with 19 wins and earned American League Championship Series MVP en route to the 27th World Series in franchise history.

Jeter walked onto the biggest stage in baseball and wowed immediately, establishing himself as a Patrick Mahomes-esque winner and becoming one of the most recognized people on the planet. Before the 2001 season, the Yankees rewarded him with a 10-year, $189 million contract that made him the second-highest player in all of baseball at the time. Jeter famously went on to spend his entire 19-year career in pinstripes and proved to be worth every penny.