Baseball's Second-Tier Players Have Benefitted The Most From 25 Years Of Skyrocketing Salaries

In 1989, pitcher Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball with a salary of $2.8 million. Twenty-five years later, a Dodgers pitcher is once again the highest-paid, only now it is Zack Greinke and he will be paid $26 million this year.

If we take into account inflation, the salary for the highest-paid player has jumped 389% in 25 years. But that is well-below the increase seen for lesser players.

The 50th-highest-paid player in 1989 was making $1.4 million according to USAToday.com. This year, catcher Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals is the 50th-highest-paid, making $15.2 million, an inflation-adjusted increase of 474%. The 10th- and 100th-highest-paid have seen similar increases of 444% and 469%, respectively.

Interestingly, the highest-paid player was only out-of-whack with the rest of the salaries during the period of Alex Rodriguez' record-setting contracts (first signed in 2001).

Meanwhile, it should be no surprise that baseball's youngest players are getting screwed the most. During this 25-year run, the minimum salary has only increased an inflation-adjusted 285%, from 68,000 to 500,000.