A complete list of '97 MLB salaries is reported by USA
TODAY's Hal Bodley. The league's average salary for '97
increased 19% to $1.314M. The league's total payroll of
$1.085B includes base salary with pro-rated signing bonuses,
plus performance and award bonuses earned. Benefits and
termination pay of more than $35.5M are not included (USA
TODAY, 11/14). The total '97 payroll put MLB over the $1B
mark for the first time (Murray Chass, N.Y. TIMES, 11/14).
KREMLIN-LIKE MANEUVER: USA TODAY's Bodley adds that MLB
leaders "blew a tremendous opportunity to steal the NFL's
dominance -- in the middle of its season" by not making
public each team's 15-player protected lists before
Tuesday's expansion draft. Bodley: "Instead of having two
or three days of exciting pre-draft coverage, they acted as
if these lists were the Pentagon Papers." Anyone who leaks
the protected list information to the media is subject to a
$250,000 fine (USA TODAY, 11/14). Despite the fine threat,
many protected lists have been revealed. The Rangers' list
was reported in Wednesday's Dallas Morning News, the
Orioles' in Thursday's Washington Post and the Red Sox' in
Thursday's Providence Journal-Bulletin (THE DAILY).
