Ok, it cut off the rest of my message... but... as you can see, only in 1998 did the Yankees not lead the league in average salary. So they've been buying their team since 1996 for sure. The source didn't have pre 1996 stats.
2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
N.Y. Yankees $3,656,542 3,215,660 2,229,945 2,303,437 1,882,417
Los Angeles 3,141,883 2,410,773 1,763,528 1,734,862 1,291,325
Atlanta 3,127,992 2,491,388 2,007,665 1,817,543 1,643,323
NY Mets 3,115,549 2,199,903 1,959,971 1,364,202 858,282
Boston 2,861,753 2,241,861 1,676,859 1,399,491 1,198,366
Arizona 2,828,909 2,270,453 1,087,243
Cleveland 2,707,783 2,174,932 1,888,369 1,912,062 1,646,741
St. Louis 2,390,042 1,515,094 1,648,114 1,552,695 1,531,063
Baltimore 2,131,260 2,519,213 2,761,464 2,205,890 1,689,670
San Francisco 2,128,333 1,650,392 1,783,535 1,657,232 1,132,634
Seattle 2,075,165 1,455,330 1,529,563 1,484,311 1,371,062
Chicago Cubs 2,017,536 1,988,212 1,731,924 1,230,273 949,333
Toronto 1,984,039 1,585,029 1,321,997 1,461,997 1,052,655
Detroit 1,980,411 1,171,069 720,961 653,058 685,026
Tampa Bay 1,915,275 1,134,301 848,117
Texas 1,870,723 2,825,735 2,108,505 1,417,055 1,537,795
Colorado 1,734,529 1,979,154 1,743,621 1,439,720 1,437,979
Houston 1,625,136 1,706,294 1,590,760 1,164,686 880,608
Anaheim 1,619,719 1,519,745 1,473,155 1,201,291 754,617
San Diego 1,603,601 1,620,328 1,895,756 1,279,053 1,244,644
Philadelphia 1,386,510 955,639 968,160 973,275 794,108
Chicago White Sox 1,360,172 908,704 1,436,537 1,695,296 1,572,512
Cincinnati 1,298,459 1,465,418 763,206 1,295,491 1,526,424
Oakland 1,156,925 812,949 784,601 392,400 688,910
Pittsburgh 1,004,335 714,430 459,552 380,443 615,297
Milwaukee 927,610 1,433,861 1,034,708 886,587 420,320
Florida 847,208 561,111 462,381 1,793,766 842,729
Kansas City 798,242 534,460 1,051,479 1,167,200 666,918
Montreal 767,420 572,290 306,162 617,711 577,650
Minnesota 601,680 648,800 957,035 1,259,514 756,712
[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: Nifty ]