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| Yankees. (Getty Images) |
In SI.com's recently released "Fortunate 50" -- a list of the 50 highest-paid athletes in America, which includes playing salary and endorsements -- one won't find a baseball player in the top five. Baseball players are, however, peppered throughout the rest of the list, as MLB sports 19 players in the top 50. The list is headlined, of course, by the Yankees.
The Yankees have four players in the top 21, including the only two MLB players in the top 10. Alex Rodriguez (No. 6), Derek Jeter (No. 9), CC Sabathia (No. 20) and Mark Teixeira (No. 21) made the cut.
There was a three-way tie for 36th place, with three baseball players, and it's quite a humorous mix: Barry Zito, Carl Crawford and Albert Pujols.
I also thought it was quite funny that A.J. Burnett checked in at No. 49 -- considering the Yankees are paying the overwhelming majority of his salary this season, even though he pitches for the Pirates.
Here are the rest of the players on the list: Joe Mauer (12), Vernon Wells (17 ... yikes), Prince Fielder (22), Adrian Gonzalez (25), Justin Verlander (28), Cliff Lee (tied for 29th with Tony Stewart of Nascar), Ryan Howard (32), Roy Halladay (35), Torii Hunter (41), Josh Beckett (44) and Jake Peavy (45).
Make sure to note that this is just for the current year and doesn't include full, long-term contracts. Also, NBA players had much smaller salaries last season due to the lockout, so that's probably what helped the likes of Beckett, Peavy and Burnett get in there.
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