Baseball Salary Survey Finds Bonuses Were Very, Very Good to Few

A study of baseball salaries and bonuses turned up a number of curious contracts, including that of Steve Balboni, who earned an extra $525,000--more than almost 70% of major leaguers--just for staying healthy.

A New York Times survey showed that 57 players, including two each from the Angels and Dodgers, earned more than $1 million in total compensation. Six of them--Dan Quisenberry and George Brett of the Kansas City Royals, Jim Rice of the Boston Red Sox, Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles, Gary Carter of the Mets, and Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies--topped $2 million.

But some players with minimum salaries nevertheless did well when bonuses were added. Balboni, who had finished the 1986 season with a bad back, was guaranteed just $100,000 for the 1987 season. However, he could earn bonus money if he was healthy, even if he didn’t play in the games. The club offered $65,000 for every 30 games that he did not go on the disabled list. So Balboni, who batted just .207 with 24 home runs, earned all $525,000 in bonuses.

Montreal Expos pitcher Bryn Smith was coming back from elbow surgery this season. The Expos gave him a major league minimum of $62,500, but included clauses that provided an extra $404,219, based on average number of innings per start.

Ken Dayley, who like Smith had been released by a team the season before, signed a $75,000 contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. He made $250,000 in appearance bonuses.

Some other pitchers boosted their income just by the number of starts. The Houston Astros’ Nolan Ryan earned an extra $225,000 on top of his $1-million salary, the Detroit Tigers’ Doyle Alexander nearly doubled his salary with a bonus of $200,000. Two pitchers who were attempting comebacks made extra money for starts. Jim Gott and Atlee Hammaker signed San Francisco Giants contracts of $100,000 and $168,000 respectively, after shoulder surgery. Gott, who was later traded to Pittsburgh, earned an extra $217,000, Hammaker $212,000.

The Giants’ Don Robinson scored an extra $175,000 in bonuses, but part of that was a “weight” bonus.

Don Sutton, just released by the Angels, got an extra $340,000 for games started, bringing his total compensation to $840,000. Teammate Mike Witt made an extra $250,000 for innings pitched, to make him highest paid on his team at $1,133,333.

The Dodgers, who are led in salary by Fernando Valenzuela ($1,850,000) and Pedro Guerrero ($1,520,000), are among just four clubs that do not write incentive bonuses. Detroit, San Diego and Boston refuse to include bonus clauses in contracts.

Some hitters besides Balboni made extra money. Lance Parrish of Philadelphia made $1 million, thanks to an extra $200,000 he received for not being on the disabled list by the All-Star break. Andre Dawson, who had taken a $1 million pay cut to sign a $500,000 contract with the Chicago Cubs, earned an extra $150,000 for being healthy at the All-Star break and another $50,000 for being named to the All-Star team.

Because the clauses are so complicated, the survey was unable to say which player made the most. Quisenberry, Rice and Murray are among the three highest-paid players, but Rice and Murray have large chunks of their salary deferred. Quisenberry has a lucrative real estate deal in his contract that could put his income as high as $3.5 million. However, the survey estimates it at $2,293,509, just ahead of Murray at $2,246,887 and Rice at $2,221,629.