Will Clark Receives Giant Deal : Baseball: Four-year, $15-million contract calls for a record $4.25-million salary in 1993.

Will Clark jumped to the top of baseball’s salary list on Monday when he agreed to a $15-million, four-year contract with the San Francisco Giants that calls for the first $4-million salary in baseball history.

Clark, the most valuable player of the National League playoffs, will average $3.75 million a season in the new deal, topping the $3.5 million a year that Oakland’s Dave Stewart will get in the two-year extension he agreed to last week.

“It definitely overwhelms you to know that baseball has this much money,” Clark said. “I did not get into it to try to rob the bank. I got into it because I love the game.”

The 25-year-old first baseman gets a $2-million signing bonus, $1.75 million in 1990, $3.25 million in 1991, $3.75 million in 1992 and $4.25 million in 1993. Clark, who got a four-year, no-trade provision, can make $100,000 if he is named the NL’s MVP, $50,000 each for being named MVP of the playoffs or World Series and $25,000 for making the All-Star team.

“It just shows what’s happened to baseball in the last few years,” said Clark, who made $1.125 million last season. “It’s a direct result of the television money.”

Clark said he realized he’s the highest-paid player in baseball history.

“Let me put it this way,” Clark said. “When the ball’s in the air, I’m not figuring out what my salary’s going to be if I get a hit.”

Clark’s contract was the latest in an off-season that has seen salaries escalate sharply. The top 10 contracts in baseball history by average salary have all been agreed to since the end of the season.

Clark, a left-handed hitter, batted .333 in 1989 with 23 home runs, 111 runs batted in, 104 runs scored and 196 hits. He was second in average behind Tony Gwynn of San Diego, third in RBIs behind teammate Kevin Mitchell and Pedro Guerrero of St. Louis and tied for the lead in runs scored with Howard Johnson of the New York Mets and Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs.