This Day in Yankees History: The strangest trade in sports history
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Welcome to the relaunched This Day in
Yankees History. These daily posts will highlight two or three key moments in Yankees history on a given date, as well as recognize players born on the day. Hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with us!
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99 Years Ago
Going into his age-27 season, Yankees superstar Babe Ruth officially became the highest-paid player in baseball, signing a three-year contract worth $52,000 per season, or the modern-day equivalent of roughly $800,000. Although that looks low relative to modern contracts, his salary was more than twice the second-highest contract in history to that point and represented 40 percent of the player payroll (for context, the equivalent sum on the 2021 Yankees’ payroll would be $81.6 million).