Did Mark Mgwire ever take a pay cut?

Question

I though I had heard that he did once with Oakland because he felt he wasn't performing well....

Answer 1

True. McGwire had an utterly abysmal 1991 season -- .201/.330/.383, 97 hits, 22 HR, 93 walks (this one was pretty good actually) in 585 plate appearances, 154 games. Ouch.

Mac collected $2.85M for that year. He was upset enough to ask for a pay cut for his 1992 salary -- it was his last year of arbitration before (potential) free agency -- and, no surprise, management agreed. His '92 salary was $2.7M -- not a huge cut, but simply not getting a raise (even for that weak a year) is unusual. McGwire bounced back well -- 42 HR and such -- and then spent a lot of 1993-94 injured, and then began his Big Mac surge in 1995 (a season in which he was injured some, so his final counting numbers aren't eyepopping like the years that immediately followed).

But one never hears about the time McGwire asked -- ASKED!!! -- for a pay cut, because the media Officially Frowns upon him today, and it's not the sort of story they want to disseminate when the party line demands attention to greed, greed, greed. (Player greed, that is. Since it is expected that owners are greedy, writing about owner greed is akin to "dog bites man".)

Answer 2

For the sake of completeness, here are all the yearly salaries collected by Mark McGwire:

1986 Oakland Athletics $60,000
1987 Oakland Athletics $72,500
1988 Oakland Athletics $250,000
1989 Oakland Athletics $510,500
1990 Oakland Athletics $1,500,000
1991 Oakland Athletics $2,850,000
1992 Oakland Athletics $2,700,000
1993 Oakland Athletics $4,000,000
1994 Oakland Athletics $3,000,000
1995 Oakland Athletics $6,925,000
1996 Oakland Athletics $7,050,000
1997 Oakland Athletics $7,150,000
1998 St. Louis Cardinals $8,928,354
1999 St. Louis Cardinals $9,358,667
2000 St. Louis Cardinals $9,333,333
2001 St. Louis Cardinals $11,000,000


You can see 3 seasons where is salary went backward compared to the year before. In at least one case, it could be because of performance or award clauses that triggered an additional amount.

Answer 3

It's true. Mark McGwire isnt a very smart businessman. It's kinda dumb to do that actually.

Answer 4

Just because his pay went down doesn't mean he took a pay cut. It could have just been how his contract was structured.

Answer 5

DEAR SIR

SO SORRY I CAN NOT SAY YES ARE NO BECAUSE HE

NEVER SAID IT AND I CAN NOT FIND IT ARE READ

WELL OK

GOOD LUCK

AND

TAKE CARE