Average salary fell for 3rd straight year in ’20

NEW YORK — The average Major League Baseball salary dropped for an unprecedented third straight year, even before the shortened season caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Major League Baseball Players Association said Thursday the 2020 average would have been $3.89 million if a full season had been played. That was down 4.2% from the 2019 average of $4.05 million and represented a 5.2% decrease from the record average of just under $4.1 million in 2017. The average started to slip in 2018, falling by $1,436.

Because the pandemic caused players to receive roughly 37% of pay last year, the actual average plunged to $1.59 million, its lowest since 1998.

“We have been consistent in our position that the current trends in our game need to be addressed regarding the lack of incentive to compete and the need for the system to better reflect the value created by players throughout the service time spectrum,” union head Tony Clark said in an email to The Associated Press. “While there are other forces at play, and concerns that we have in addition to the above, we look forward to discussing each of the issues I just highlighted as a way to move our industry forward.”

Before 2018 and 2019, the average had not dropped in consecutive years since the union started tracking it at $19,000 in 1967. Before the last three years, the only decreases had been in 1987, when clubs were found guilty by an arbitrator of collusion against free agents; in 1995, after the end of a 71⁄2-month strike; and in 2004.