In 1949 Joe DiMaggio of the NY Yankees became the first $100,000/year baseball player.
Joe DiMaggio, known as the “Yankee Clipper,” was a supreme baseball player – an excellent fielder as well as hitter.
Hall of Fame player, owner and manager Connie Mack called DiMaggio “the best player that ever lived.”
His teammate All-Star Yogi Berra said: “I wish everybody had the drive he had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.”