Throwback Thursday: Major League Baseball Raises Minimum Salary

On this day in sport's history, the MLB and MLBPA formed the first collective bargaining agreement in the sport's history which among other things, raised the minimum salary for all players.

Two years prior, MLB had seen two of its greatest players hold out from spring training rather than accept what they felt was below-market salaries. Those two players were Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and the minimum salary was $6,000.

Fast forward to 1968 and head of the MLBPA Marvin Miller, helped form the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the MLB. Part of this CBA included raising the minimum salary for baseball players to $10,000.

It's telling just how big the game of baseball has grown that Manny Machado just signed the biggest contract in sports history for $300 million. And considering MLB superstar Bryce Harper remains a free agent, it's a record that is likely to be surpassed quickly.

Even if you look at just the minimum salary for MLB players today, the number is still much different from 1968 as the minimum salary for MLB players today is $555,000 per Statista.