Baseball's First Millionaire

Major League Baseball has certainly changed since it was founded in 1869. Its evolution has lead its popularity to soar over the years. So much so that in 2018 29 of the 30 MLB teams had valuations of over 1 Billion Dollars. The continual increase in popularity has caused MLB player's earnings to sky rocket both from their team salaries and endorsement deals. In 2018 Mike Trout earned the most money in Major League Baseball, he accumulated $35.8 million ($32.3 million earned from his salary and $2.5 million earned from endorsements). Head over to Forbes to check out a complete list of the MLB's highest paid players for 2018.

With all of this money floating around Major League Baseball today it may be hard to comprehend that it hasn't always been this way. In fact, baseball did not see its first millionaire player until Ty Cobb. Cobb was able to accomplish this feat by way of salary, endorsements, and his own smarts.   

Ty Cobb was acquired by the Detroit Tigers
for only $750

Ty Cobb’s salary in 1905, his first year in the Big Leagues, was $1,800. From there it was off to the races. From 1905-1928 Ty Cobb made a combined $435,000 from playing and managing baseball. During his 14 year career as a player Cobb made about $225,000. From 1921-1926, Cobb, while playing, also managed the Detroit Baseball Club. From managing the team for these 5 years Cobb made an extra $210,000. Cobb was the highest paid player in baseball 9 of his 14 years playing. 

Ty’s fame during his career grew to such that he was in constant demand for advertising and entertainment purposes. Cobb starred in the first film ever made about an athlete, Somewhere in Georgia, in 1917. Cobb also made appearances in many stage plays. A few of the many endorsements that Cobb was paid for include: cigarettes, cigars, chewing gum, soda, tonic water, baseball gloves, and Chevrolet cars. According to Sverre Braathen in The Idol of Baseball Fandom, it is a low figure to estimate that Ty earned $75,000 through various endorsements while playing the game of baseball.

According to Braathen, it is estimated that Cobb made another $500,000 off of investments while playing baseball. Cobb made numerous investments in land, livestock, oil, and the stock market. One of many successful ventures made by Cobb was investing in cotton, where he saw a profit of about $7,500 when the stock price jumped due to World War I and the need for uniforms. Cobb also successfully invested in a copper mine in Bisbee, Arizona. When copper was found he made a profit of $15,000. His connections with John Dodge, David Buick, J.W. Packard, and Ransom Olds lead him to diversify into the auto market where he invested heavily, and successfully, in General Motors. Among many others, Cobb was also heavily invested in The Coca Cola Company.

Is there an MLB player in today's era who has enjoyed as much success as Cobb did in terms of salary, investments, and entertainment? The answer is YES and that player is Alex Rodriguez.

Alex Rodriguez played 22 seasons of Major League Baseball, retiring in 2016. During his 22 seasons he was the highest paid player in baseball 12 times. Rodriguez is currently the highest paid MLB player of all time, accumulating $437.2 million worth of salary. Off of the field Rodriguez, like Cobb, is known for being a businessman. Rodriguez founded ARod Corp in 1996 which successfully manages investments in an array of industries including: real estate, media & entertainment, and fitness & wellness. Finally, Rodriguez, like Cobb, has been in demand for entertainment purposes throughout and after his baseball career. Rodriguez has a long list of guest appearances on various television shows and movies including the likes of Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Late Show with David Letterman.

  Newspaper articles found in Milner Library's
Special Collections Unit at Illinois State University