I was once the highest-paid player in the MLB - but my badboy antics off the field saw me fined $10,

May 2024 · 3 minute read

ALBERT BELLE may have broken MLB earnings records, but he has also cost himself thousands in fines.

The five-time All-Star and Silver-Slugger Award winner, now 56, was a force to be reckoned with during his playing career.

Drafted in the second round of the 1987 MLB Draft out of LSU, Belle spent the majority of his career with the Cleveland Indians - or Guardians as they are now known.

RECORD BREAKING CONTRACT

After bouncing between the minor and major league at the beginning of his career, the outfielder finally became an Indians mainstay in 1991.

Two years later, Belle had his first of five consecutive All-Star seasons, his last of which came after moving to the Chicago White Sox.

His five-year $55million deal was the first in MLB history to eclipse $10million a season, per NBC Sports Chicago.

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After just two seasons, he headed for the Baltimore Orioles where he signed another five-year deal, this time worth $65million.

Unfortunately for Baltimore, according to NBC Sports Washington, "The Orioles thought they were stealing the slugger away from the New York Yankees.

"Instead, they got an angry man with a chronic hip condition."

Another two years later, Belle's career was over as he was diagnosed with a "severe case of degenerative arthritis," per ESPN.

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'$10,000 A YEAR'

But this only scratches the surface of Belle's MLB story.

During his career, he built a reputation for himself as someone who "was nuts," according to Buster Olney in The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty, via Bleacher Report.

He wrote that: "The Indians billed him $10,000 a year for the damage he caused in clubhouses on the road and at home, and tolerated his behavior only because he was an awesome slugger...

"He slurped coffee constantly and seemed to be on a perpetual caffeinated frenzy."

Olney added that "few escaped his wrath," explaining how on occasion Belle "would destroy the postgame buffet...launching plates into the shower."

In fact, Olney claimed that following a disappointing game, Belle took to "the visitor's clubhouse and took a bat to teammate Kenny Lofton's boombox.

"Belle preferred to have the clubhouse cold, below 60 degrees, and when one chilly teammate turned up the heat, Belle walked over, turned down the thermostat, and smashed it with his bat.

"His nickname, thereafter, was "Mr. Freeze."

ENDLESS CONTROVERSY

Throughout his career, controversy appeared to follow Belle around.

He was suspended in 1991 after he hit "a taunting fan in the chest with [a] ball during a game," according to Cleveland.com.

A year later Belle was suspended again "for charging the mound."

Fast forward another year and, again, he was suspended for the same transgression.

Then in 1994, Belle's use of a corked bat caused him to be suspended once more.

During the 1995 World Series, "an expletive-laden tirade" aimed at reporters - specifically Hannah Storm - led to a league record $50k fine, per the Washington Post.

In 1996, another five-game suspension came his way following a brawl during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

OFF-THE-FIELD ISSUES

And Belle's issues weren't just limited to the field.

In 1997 Belle reached a settlement with a teenager after he supposedly chased him with his car after the teen egged his home.

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According to the teenager's guardian during the lawsuit, "Belle’s vehicle struck the youngster, who was 16, injuring him slightly," per the Associated Press.

Nine years later Belle was sentenced to a 90-day stint in jail after "he admitted stalking his former girlfriend," according to ESPN.

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