Even as massive contracts become more and more common, baseball's first $100MM player remains the oldest person to obtain a nine-figure deal. Kevin Brown signed the first $100MM contract in baseball history after the 1998 season, a year in which the 33-year-old logged 257 innings, struck out 257 opponents and posted a 2.38 ERA. It led to a $105MM guarantee from the Dodgers, the first of its kind in MLB.
It’s been 14 years since Brown finalized his record deal — long enough for teams to hand out 40 more $100MM deals. In the last calendar year alone nine players have signed nine-figure deals. Many have surpassed Brown's $105MM guarantee, but none of them have been older than 33.
Here's the complete, updated list of $100MM players sorted by age, courtesy of MLBTR’s Transaction Tracker (the list includes free agent signings and extensions, but does not include posting fees for Japanese players):
- Kevin Brown, 33, signed a seven-year, $105MM deal on 12/12/1998.
- Alex Rodriguez, 32, signed a ten-year, $275MM deal on 12/13/2007.
- Cliff Lee, 32, signed a five-year, $120MM deal on 12/13/2010.
- Albert Pujols, 31, signed a ten-year, $240MM deal on 12/08/2011.
- Jayson Werth, 31, signed a seven-year, $126MM deal on 12/05/2010.
- Josh Hamilton, 31, signed a five-year, $125MM deal on 12/15/2012.
- Alfonso Soriano, 30, signed an eight-year, $136MM deal on 11/20/2006.
- Ryan Howard, 30, signed a five-year, $125MM extension on 4/26/2010.
- Jason Giambi, 30, signed a seven-year, $120MM deal on 12/18/2001.
- Ken Griffey Jr., 30, signed a nine-year, $116.5MM deal on 2/11/2000.
- Carlos Lee, 30, signed a six-year, $100MM deal on 11/24/2006.
- Zack Greinke, 29, signed a six-year, $147MM deal on 12/09/2012.
- Carl Crawford, 29, signed a seven-year, $142MM deal on 12/8/2010.
- David Wright, 29, signed an eight-year, $138MM deal on 12/04/2012.
- Matt Holliday, 29, signed a seven-year, $120MM deal on 1/7/2010.
- Joey Votto, 28, signed a ten-year, $225MM deal on 04/02/2012.
- Mark Teixeira, 28, signed an eight-year, $180MM deal on 1/6/2009.
- C.C. Sabathia, 28, signed a seven-year, $161MM deal on 12/20/2008 (revised as a 31-year-old on 10/31/2011).
- Manny Ramirez, 28, signed an eight-year, $160MM deal on 12/19/2000.
- Adrian Gonzalez, 28, signed a seven-year, $154MM deal on 4/15/2011.
- Cole Hamels, 28, signed a six-year, $144MM deal on 07/25/2012.
- Johan Santana, 28, signed a six-year, $137.5MM deal on 2/2/2008.
- Vernon Wells, 28, signed a seven-year, $126MM deal on 12/20/2006.
- Barry Zito, 28, signed a seven-year, $126MM deal on 12/29/2006.
- Mike Hampton, 28, signed an eight-year, $121MM deal on 12/12/2000.
- Jose Reyes, 28, signed a six-year, $106MM deal on 12/04/2011.
- Prince Fielder, 27, signed a nine-year, $214MM deal on 1/24/2012.
- Matt Kemp, 27, signed an eight-year, $160MM deal on 11/14/2011.
- Todd Helton, 27, signed a nine-year, $141.5MM deal on 3/1/2001.
- Carlos Beltran, 27, signed a seven-year, $119MM deal on 1/13/2005.
- Matt Cain, 27, signed a five-year, $112.5MM deal on 04/02/2012.
- Ryan Braun, 27, signed a five-year, $105MM deal on 4/21/2011.
- Ryan Zimmerman, 27, signed a six-year, $100MM deal on 2/26/2012.
- Evan Longoria, 27, signed a six-year, $100MM deal on 11/26/2012.
- Derek Jeter, 26, signed a ten-year, $189MM deal on 2/1/2001.
- Joe Mauer, 26, signed an eight-year, $184MM deal on 3/21/2010.
- Felix Hernandez, 26, signed a seven-year, $175MM deal on 02/07/2013.
- Troy Tulowitzki, 26, signed a six-year, $119MM deal on 11/30/2010.
- Alex Rodriguez, 25, signed a ten-year, $252MM deal on 12/1/2000.
- Miguel Cabrera, 24, signed an eight-year, $152.3MM deal on 3/24/2008.
- Albert Pujols, 24, signed a seven-year, $100MM deal on 2/19/2004.
It's also worth noting that $100MM contracts have been evenly split between extensions and free agent contracts. Since the beginning of the 2009-10 offseason, however there have been 14 $100MM extensions against just nine $100MM free agent signings.
