Giancarlo Stanton, $325 million man

The Miami Marlins, notorious for their firesales and miniscule player payrolls more than their two World Series titles, completed an image makeover by signing All-Star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton to the largest contract in North American team sports history.

The Marlins, finalized a 13-year, $325 million deal with their marquee player. The Marlins have scheduled a press conference Wednesday to announce the deal.

The deal eclipses Alex Rodriguez's 10-year, $275 million contract with the New York Yankees.

Stanton, 25, who finished runner-up in the MVP race to Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, was eligible for free agency in two years.

Stanton, despite missing the final 17 games after being hit by a pitch in the face, led the National League with 37 homers. He also drove in 105 runs while batting .288. He was leading the league in slugging percentage (.555), total bases (.299) and walks (94) at the time of his injury.

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Just North America?  Somebody has a larger one?

According to this list, it's

10. Joe Mauer, $140 million, 8 years
9. Derek Jeter, $180 million, 10 years
8. Prince Fielder, $214 million, 9 years
7. Clayton Kershaw, $215 million, 7 years
6. Joey Votto, $215 million, 10 years
4. Albert Pujols, $240 million, 10 years
4. Robinson Cano, $240 million, 10 years
3. Alex Rodriguez, $252 million, 10 years
2. Alex Rodriguez, $275 million, 10 years
1. Miguel Cabrera, $292 million, 10 years

Interesting, all MLB players.  So this ain't it.  There's apparently somebody with a contract larger than $325 million.

Let's go to wikipedia.

Nope, they have Giancarlo Stanton at the top of their list.

Baseball has 21 of the top 22 contracts.  Floyd Mayweather is no. 12 with $180,000 for two years.  I guess he wins the per year title.  Kimi Raikkonen is no. 23 with $153,000 for three years.  Kobe Bryant is the top basketball player with $136,400,000 for 7 years.  Calvin Johnson, surprisingly not a quarterback, is the top football player with $132,000,000 for 8 years.  Michael Vick has a $130,000,000 contract for 10 years.  Jay Cutler $126,700,000 for 7 years.  Jermaine O'Neal had a $126,558.000 contract for 7 years.  Kevin Garnett and Rashard Lewis both had $126,000,000 contracts for 6 years.  There were 106 contracts worth $100,000,000 or more.

Who has a larger contract than Giancarlo Stanton?

Nobody that I could find.  So maybe it isn't just North America?  This article says it's the richest contract in sports history.  Maybe the other guys just didn't know.

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Who's the richest athlete?  Well I guess it's sports figures from this list.

1.  Michael Jordan is the only billionaire
2.  Michael Schuacher, $800 million.  (Who?  He's an auto racer from Germany)
3.  Vince McMahon. $750 million. Not quite billionaire Vince
4.  Arnold Palmer.  $675 million.
5.  Tiger Woods.  $600 million.
6.  Magic Johnson.  $500 million.  No wonder he thinks he say whatever he wants.
7.  Michael Buffer.  $400 million.  Really?
8.  Junior Bridgeman.  $400 million.  President of Bridgeman Foods, probably where he made most of his money.
9.  Shaquille O'Neal.  $350 million.  See Magic Johnson.
10.  David Beckham.  $350 million.
11.  LeBron James.  $325 million (and counting).

Celebrity Net Worth has Roger Staubach at $600 million.  Al Davis at $500 million (how old is this list?).  Eddie Jordan at $475 million.  Bud Selig and Ayrton Senna at $400 million.

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Highest paid athletes (this year I assume) according to Forbes:

1.  Floyd Mayweather  $105 million
2.  Christiano Ronaldo $80 million
3.  LeBron James $72.3 million
4.  Lionel Messi  $64.7 million
5.  Kobe Bryant  $61.5 million
6.  Tiger Woods  $61.2 million  ($55 million in endorsements)
7.  Roger Federer $56.2 million ($52 million in endorsements)
8.  Phil Mikkelson $53.2 million $48 million in endorsements)
9.  Rafael Nadal $44.5 million
10.  Matt Ryan $43.8 million (really?)
11.  Manny Pacquiao, $41.8 million