The highest paid Latino baseball players in the Major Leagues (2001).

"I'm embarrassed by this contract. I don't know if Michael Jordan, Bill Gates or Alexander the Great would be worth this kind of money. But that's the market today."
-- Alex Rodriguez, February 2001.

Updated November 2001 -- Latinos in the Major Leagues are making big bucks playing baseball. There are over 40 native Latin American baseball players who are millionaires playing the sport we all love to watch. New York native, origins of Dominican Republic, Alex Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers leads the pack with a whopping $22 million dollars a year ($252 million over 10 years). El Dominicano, Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs still leads the National League among Latinos with his $11 million per year salary.

In looking at team salaries, the New York Yankees still have the highest payroll for the third consecutive year. At $111.8 million, its almost five times more than Minnesota's $24.8 million, the lowest figure. The Yankees paid an average of $3,930,334 to the 31 players on their Aug. 31 roster and disabled list.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, who rallied to beat the Yankees in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series, were ninth on average paid salaries at $2,701,205.

The highest-paid positions, on average, are Designating Hitters (DH) averaging $5,650,019, then first base at $4,622,617 million with Puerto Rican slugger Carlos Delgado at the top spot with a yearly salary of 13,650,000. The lowest paid positions are catchers, $3.19 million, on average and relief pitchers, $1.51 million.

The final average salary of a major league player in 2001 was $2,138,896. The league minimum is $200,000.

Baseball salaries are skyrocketing at an enormous rate. Salaries have increased at a rate of 15% per year for the past 30 years.

American League
Players	Team	Pos.	2001 Salary
1. Alex Rodriguez 2. Carlos Delgado 3. Manny Ramirez 4. Pedro Martinez 5. Bernie Williams 6. Raul Mondesi 7. Juan Gonzalez 8. Mariano Rivera 8. Wilson Alvarez 10. Rafael Palmiero	Rangers Blue Jays Red Sox Red Sox Yankees Blue Jays Indians Yankees Rangers Rangers	SS 1B RF P 1B RF RF P P 1B	$22,000,000 $13,650,000 $13,000,000 $12,357,143 $12,200,000 $11,500,000 $10,000,000 $9,150,000 $9,000,000 $9,000,000
			AL Top Ten Total:
			$121,857,143


National League
Players	Team	Pos.	2001 Salary
1. Sammy Sosa 2. Carlos Perez 3. Javy Lopez 4. Alex Fernandez 5. Pedro Astacio 6. Jose Lima 7. Vladimir Guerrero 8. Moises Alou 9. Bobby Abreu 10. Luis Gonzalez	Cubs Dodgers Braves Marlins Rockies Astros Expos Astros Phillies Diamondbacks	RF P C P P P RF RF RF LF	$12,500,000 $7,833,333 $7,750,000 $7,000,000 $6,850,000 $6,250,000 $6,000,000 $5,250,000 $4,983,000 $4,833,333
			NL Top Ten Total:
			69,249,666

If a player is on a multiyear contract, only the terms for 2001 are used, plus a prorated signing bonus, if applicable. Incentive and award clauses don't count. Some of the data were obtained by The Associated Press, Major League Baseball and management and player sources.