The $15 Million Dollar Man -- Will Clark Becomes Baseball's Highest Paid Player

For some time now, a case could be made that Will Clark is the premier player in baseball's major leagues. Now there is more tangible support for that premise.

Clark yesterday agreed to sign a landmark contract. He and the San Francisco Giants reached an agreement that will earn him $15 million the next four years.

More astounding is that in the fourth year of the contract, 1993, Clark is to earn $4,250,000 in salary.

Less than a week after Dave Stewart's contract established the highest average annual value of a contract at $3.5 million, Clark's agreement has pushed it $250,000 higher (he will receive $3.75 million in 1990) and, at the same time, moved baseball salaries to a point where they are approaching $5 million annually.

Imagine that.

Mike Schmidt never earned $2.5 million in a season, and he was the premier player of the 1980s.

Now, with the decade not even a month old, a player with four years of major-league experience is about to earn an average of $1.25 million more per year than Schmidt earned, and he is to do so for four years.

Not even a year ago, Orel Hershiser signed a three-year, $7.9 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers that provided for a $2.8 million salary in 1991. And people were flabbergasted by the prospect of salaries reaching $3 million. Then in November, Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins reached $3 million.

Now this.

There is every reason to believe that the New York Yankees' Don Mattingly will sign a contract worth more than what has been bestowed upon Clark, and not necessarily because Mattingly is a better player than Clark.

To the contrary, at some point late in the 1987 season or shortly after it, a number of baseball people not blinded by provincialism came to the realization that Mattingly no longer was the premier player in baseball.

Clark now appears to be that player, regardless of the results of the Most Valuable Player Award balloting.

Note that the National League MVP, Kevin Mitchell, Clark's San Francisco teammate, signed a one-year contract for $2,083,000 last week. Clark, who made $1,125,000 last season, is to receive $2 million in signing bonus alone and a 1990 salary of $1,750,000. Then he will receive $3,250,000 next year and $3,750,000 in 1992 before he reaches the once unthinkable level of $4,250,000.

But what about Mattingly? He will be a free agent after the 1990 season. The Yankees' owner, George Steinbrenner, wants him to be the highest-paid player in the game.

Steinbrenner was willing to give Mark Langston $18 million for five years. It hardly is outside the realm of possibility that Steinbrenner will bestow a four-year, $16.5 million contract Mattingly.

WILL'S THRILLS

Year-by-year salaries for Will Clark of the San Francisco Giants, who agreed to a $51 million, four-year contract that makes him the highest-paid player in baseball history. Base salaries for 1990-93 include prorated share of $2 million signing bonus:

YEAR SALARY

1986 $ 60,000

1987 120.000

1988x 345,000

1989 1,125,000

1990 2,250,000

1991 3,750,000

1992 4,250,000

1993 4,750,000

x includes $25,000 bonus

Baseball's highest salaries

The top 10 baseball contracts by average annual values (figures obtained from player and management sources and include all guaranteed income but not income from potential incentive bonuses):

Player, Club Years Average salary

Will Clark, San Francisco 1990-93 $3,750,000;

Dave Stewart, Oakland 1991-92 $3,500,000;

Mark Davis, Kansas City 1990-93 $3,250,000;

Mark Langston, California 1990-94 $3,200,000;

Eric Davis, Cincinnati 1990-92 $3,100,000;

Joe Carter, San Diego 1990-92 $3,066,667;

Rickey Henderson, Oakland 1990-93 $3,000,000;

Kirby Puckett, Minnesota 1990-92 $3,000,000;

Bret Saberhagen, Kansas City 1991-93 $2,966,667;

Kent Hrbek, Minnesota 1990-94 $2,800,000