Most Expensive Franchise Topic

Verd
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Has anyone ever tried to figure out what team/season would be the highest (or lowest) total salary based on the WIS salaries?

Just a thought I had...
3/2/2026 12:19 PM
contrarian23
Posts: 23552 (1)
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Pretty sure it's the 1927 Yankees
3/2/2026 1:37 PM
jfranco77
Posts: 4482 (2)
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Just for HITTERS, this is based on the raw totals for each team. This is about the top 20 or so.

This would include combined seasons (double-counting them, I think) since I just did this in a really quick pivot table.
Row Labels Sum of Salary
1890 New York Giants $85,587,975
1890 Philadelphia Athletics $78,100,132
1902 Cleveland Blues $75,301,920
2001 Colorado Rockies $72,854,380
1956 St. Louis Cardinals $70,808,682
1996 Cleveland Indians $69,748,840
1927 New York Yankees $69,719,867
1902 Baltimore Orioles $69,539,836
1951 Chicago White Sox $69,002,129
1930 Washington Senators $67,453,670
1894 Philadelphia Phillies $67,421,354
2015 Toronto Blue Jays $66,786,722
2000 Colorado Rockies $66,730,694
2009 Pittsburgh Pirates $66,438,935
2000 Cleveland Indians $65,707,419
2000 Baltimore Orioles $64,923,785
1921 New York Giants $63,497,515
1936 New York Yankees $62,933,000
1957 Milwaukee Braves $62,712,314
2004 Los Angeles Dodgers $62,334,844
1916 New York Giants $62,078,435

Let me see if I can find a pitchers spreadsheet too.
3/4/2026 10:57 AM
jfranco77
Posts: 4482 (2)
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Here's the pitchers - same thing, just a pivot table adding up every entry with that year and franchise, so lots of double counting.
1890 Philadelphia Athletics $ 96,461,768
1890 New York Giants $ 78,897,709
1891 Cincinnati Kelly's Killers $ 78,879,684
1888 St. Louis Browns $ 76,604,579
1902 New York Giants $ 74,873,670
1906 Chicago Cubs $ 73,399,999
1894 Baltimore Orioles $ 67,379,839
1919 New York Giants $ 65,957,771
1894 Louisville Colonels $ 65,364,997
1891 Milwaukee Brewers $ 62,448,000
1902 Philadelphia Athletics $ 61,961,815
1888 Philadelphia Athletics $ 60,963,193
1987 San Francisco Giants $ 60,363,528
1891 St. Louis Browns $ 60,130,674
1976 New York Yankees $ 59,550,759
1904 New York Highlanders $ 59,395,050
1910 Chicago White Sox $ 58,584,765
1906 St. Louis Cardinals $ 58,419,193
1892 Boston Beaneaters $ 57,907,421
1892 Washington Senators $ 57,751,583
1901 Pittsburgh Pirates $ 57,392,374
1886 St. Louis Browns $ 56,654,988
1956 Chicago White Sox $ 56,606,320
1914 Boston Red Sox $ 56,112,858
1956 St. Louis Cardinals $ 55,945,532
1914 Chicago Whales $ 55,860,690
1890 Baltimore Orioles $ 55,501,483
1902 Baltimore Orioles $ 55,475,500
1909 Philadelphia Athletics $ 55,316,094
1885 Chicago White Stockings $ 55,185,975
1892 Cleveland Spiders $ 55,127,260
2014 Oakland Athletics $ 55,037,898

The 27 Yankees:
1927 New York Yankees $ 38,311,691
3/4/2026 11:06 AM
contrarian23
Posts: 23552 (1)
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The 1890 Giants (and I think A's too) are double counting in a different way; there are TWO different franchises with the same name operating in those seasons.
3/4/2026 11:51 AM
just4me
Posts: 4838 (5)
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Posted by contrarian23 on 3/4/2026 11:51:00 AM (view original):
The 1890 Giants (and I think A's too) are double counting in a different way; there are TWO different franchises with the same name operating in those seasons.
There are two different Philadelphia A’s in 1890
3/4/2026 12:49 PM
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