Best paid athlete by country (baseball has 12 of them)

ESPN has an interesting article that breaks down the best paid athletes by country.  All 182 of them. 

Baseball can claim twelve of those, third most represented sport after soccer and basketball.  The highest of those is Alex Rodriguez of course.  ARod must share the title of highest paid athlete with Manny Pacquiao, a boxer from the Philippines.

Country Best-Paid Athlete League, Team (or Competition) Annual Salary Per Capita GDP
Canada Jason Bay MLB, New York Mets $18,125,000 $39,795
Cuba Yuniesky Betancourt MLB, Milwaukee Brewers $4,300,000 $5,437
Curaçao Jair Jurrjens MLB, Atlanta Braves $3,250,000 $20,295
Dominican Republic Alfonso Soriano MLB, Chicago Cubs $19,000,000 $4,618
Japan Ichiro Suzuki MLB, Seattle Mariners $18,000,000 $39,864
Mexico Jorge De La Rosa MLB, Colorado Rockies $10,000,000 $7,956
Nicaragua Vicente Padilla MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers $2,000,000 $1,114
Panama Carlos Lee MLB, Houston Astros $19,000,000 $7,155
Puerto Rico Carlos Beltran MLB, New York Mets $19,325,436 $24,744
Taiwan Hong-Chih Kuo MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers $2,725,000 $18,500
USA Alex Rodriguez MLB, New York Yankees $32,000,000 $44,872
Venezuela Johan Santana MLB, New York Mets $21,644,707 $11,404

 

Go figure, Malaysia’s highest paid athlete is in the sport of badminton.

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