Joe DiMaggio signed with the New York Yankees for $100,000 on Monday, February 7, 1949, the deal baseball history remembers as the first six-figure contract. He was 34, coming off a season that led the American League in home runs and RBI, and three months removed from surgery on his right heel. Nobody knew if the heel would hold.
The Yankees paid him anyway. That's the part worth sitting with.
Eleven Years Earlier
Start in 1938. DiMaggio had just hit .346 with 46 homers, and he held out for a big raise. The Yankees offered $25,000 and didn't budge. He missed the start of the season, signed for their number anyway, and the Stadium crowd booed him for asking.
Eleven years later, he quadrupled that $25,000 without a fight.
What changed was the front office. Jacob Ruppert and Ed Barrow had pinched every penny DiMaggio ever asked for. By 1949 the club belonged to Dan Topping and Del Webb, who'd bought it from Ruppert's estate with Larry MacPhail in January 1945 for $2.8 million and then bought MacPhail out in October 1947. George Weiss, the farm director who'd stocked the club for 15 years, took over as general manager the same week. A rich playboy and a construction magnate wanted the best player in the game on the most expensive contract in the game. They got both.
The Heel Nobody Could Vouch For
The timing is what makes this deal strange. DiMaggio's 1948 was a monster: .320, 39 homers, 155 RBI in 153 games, leading the league in both power categories. He did all of it on a bone spur in his right heel.
On November 11, 1948, surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore went in after the spur. Three months later the Yankees put six figures in front of him. Nobody signing that contract could promise the heel would heal right. As it turned out, it didn't, at least not on schedule.
The pain came back in spring training. DiMaggio went back to Johns Hopkins, missed Opening Day, and spent April, May and most of June in street clothes, which is a rough look for the highest-paid player in the sport.
Was It Really the First?
Here's where the record books get messy. Two years earlier, Pittsburgh bought Hank Greenberg from Detroit and sold him to the public as the first $100,000-a-year player. How much Greenberg actually got has been argued about ever since. Some accounts put his real salary closer to $85,000. DiMaggio's is the deal the histories hang the title on, and he was the first American Leaguer to reach six figures.
Ted Williams is murkier still. Some salary histories have Boston matching DiMaggio at $100,000 that same year. Others have Williams topping out at $90,000 in 1950 and 1951. Either way, nobody in baseball made more than DiMaggio in 1949.
The Yankees paid him $100,000 again in 1950. They didn't much care who'd gotten to six figures first. They cared who was in center field.
Earning It in Boston
DiMaggio finally tested the heel in an exhibition against the Giants on June 27 and came through it fine. The next night he was in the lineup at Fenway. Over the next three games he went 5-for-11 with four homers and nine RBI, and the Yankees swept the Red Sox. The Associated Press called it the greatest comeback in sports that year.
He hit .346 with 14 homers and 67 RBI in 76 games. Then pneumonia knocked him flat in September, and he still dragged himself out for Joe DiMaggio Day on October 1.
I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee.
The Yankees beat Brooklyn in the World Series that October, the first of five straight titles. Seventy-six games of DiMaggio cost them $100,000. They'd have paid it twice.
| Signed | Monday, February 7, 1949 |
| Salary | $100,000 (1949 season) |
| DiMaggio's Age | 34 |
| Owners | Dan Topping and Del Webb |
| General Manager | George Weiss |
| 1938 Salary (after holdout) | $25,000 |
| 1948 Line | .320, 39 HR, 155 RBI (led AL in HR and RBI) |
| Heel Surgery | November 11, 1948, Johns Hopkins |
| 1949 Debut | June 28 at Fenway Park |
| 1949 Line | .346, 14 HR, 67 RBI in 76 games |
| 1950 Salary | $100,000 |
The Holdout Ends
After holding out into the regular season, DiMaggio signs for the club's $25,000 offer. The Stadium crowd boos him.
Heel Surgery
Surgeons at Johns Hopkins remove a bone spur from DiMaggio's right heel.
Six Figures
DiMaggio signs for $100,000, the deal remembered as baseball's first six-figure contract.
The Heel Flares
The pain returns in training camp. DiMaggio goes back to Johns Hopkins and misses the start of the season.
Fenway
In his first games of the year, DiMaggio goes 5-for-11 with four homers and nine RBI as the Yankees sweep Boston.
Paid Off
The Yankees win the pennant on the final day and beat Brooklyn in the World Series.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Joe DiMaggio sign his $100,000 contract?
DiMaggio signed his $100,000 contract with the Yankees on Monday, February 7, 1949. It covered the 1949 season, and the Yankees paid him $100,000 again in 1950.
Was Joe DiMaggio the first $100,000 player in baseball?
He's usually credited that way, and he was the first American League player to reach six figures. The asterisk is Hank Greenberg, whom the Pittsburgh Pirates billed as the first $100,000-a-year player in 1947. Greenberg's actual salary is disputed, with some accounts putting it around $85,000.
Why was DiMaggio's 1949 contract a risk for the Yankees?
DiMaggio had surgery to remove a bone spur from his right heel at Johns Hopkins on November 11, 1948, three months before he signed. The heel flared again in spring training, and he didn't play his first game of 1949 until June 28.
How did DiMaggio play after signing the $100,000 contract?
He returned at Fenway Park on June 28, 1949, and went 5-for-11 with four home runs and nine RBI in a three-game sweep of the Red Sox. He finished the year hitting .346 with 14 homers and 67 RBI in 76 games, and the Yankees won the World Series.
Eleven years after the Yankees wouldn't budge off $25,000, they handed him $100,000 for a heel they couldn't see inside. He gave them half a season. It was enough.