NEW YORK -- A full World Series share was worth $351,504 for the Philadelphia Phillies, below the record $362,173 set by the St. Louis Cardinals two years ago.
Major League Baseball said Tuesday that the players' pool for the postseason was $51.16 million, down from $52.46 million last year and a record $55.60 million in 2006.
Phillies players received $18.42 million and split it among 45 full shares, 7.039 partial shares and 15 cash awards. Last year, a full share on the World Series champion Boston Red Sox was worth $308,236, with players awarding 47 full shares, 14 partial shares and 11 cash awards.
A full share on the Tampa Bay Rays, who lost to Philadelphia in five games, was worth $223,390, down from the $233,505 for a full share on the 2007 NL champion Colorado Rockies. The Rays voted 43 full shares, 10.645 partial shares and 27 cash awards.
World Series ticket prices were basically the same for the third consecutive year. For some of the first two rounds of the postseason, the attendance-challenged Rays kept tarps over some upper-deck seats, decreasing capacity.
The players' pool includes 60 percent of ticket money from the first four games of the World Series, the first four games of each league championship series and the first three contests of each division series.
Full shares for the League Championship Series losers came to $102,231 for the Red Sox and $102,794 for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Among first-round losers, full shares were worth $32,002 for the Los Angeles Angels, $28,296 for Milwaukee, $27,828 for the Chicago White Sox and $25,033 for the Chicago Cubs. For second-place teams that didn't make the playoffs, full shares were worth $11,079 for Minnesota, $10,618 for Texas, $9,469 for Arizona and $9,186 for the New York Mets.
