In the world before Ohtani

Forty-three years before the Los Angeles Dodgers reward Shohei Ohtani with a staggering 10-year, $700 million contract in 2023, baseball’s biggest contract is signed on this date in 1980 as right fielder Dave Winfield agrees to a 10-year free agent deal with the New York Yankees.

Dave Winfield in 1980

Winfield’s new deal 45 years ago today is worth $23.3 million.

Total.

Ohtani – the unicorn who pitches like the All-Star he is and performs even better as a designated hitter – quicky restructures his record-setting contract to receive just $2 million in each of those 10 seasons on his contract with the remaining $680 million to be paid over the first 10 years after the contract expires in 2033.

The $2 million per season puts Ohtani far closer to the entry-level, major-league minimum of $780,000 in 2026 than to the top of the salary chart that better reflects his talent level.

Worry not, though, for Ohtani, who still pulls in $100 million or so in endorsement deals.

Shohei Ohtani in 2024

As for Winfield, the future Hall of Famer fulfills his contract with the Yankees before signing a series of free agent contracts with California, Toronto, Minnesota and Cleveland to extend his career through the 1995 season.

As for Ohtani, whose $700 million deal easily dwarfs Winfield’s $28 million in career earnings, he does something in his first year with the Dodgers that Winfield never accomplishes during his career – namely, win a World Series ring.

Ohtani wins that ring in 2024, his first season with the Dodgers, and does that again in 2025 with plenty of chances to earn a few more over the next eight seasons with the perennially talent-rich Dodgers.

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