Countdown to Opening Day - 17: Remembering baseball's 1st $100-million man

In this 30-day series, theScore's MLB editors will preview the 2015 season with an in-depth look at some of the significant numbers - statistical milestones, jersey numbers and general miscellanea - poised to pop up throughout the campaign.

It's been 17 years since the Los Angeles Dodgers stunned the baseball world by making Kevin Brown its first $100-millon player.

More than a billion dollars later, the sport has never been the same.

"There is no appropriate comment I can make," then-commissioner Bud Selig said. Selig's VP at the time, Sandy Alderson, called the contract "an affront and an insult to the commissioner of baseball."

Cincinnati Reds general manager Jim Bowden summed it up rather bluntly: "The fact that Kevin Brown will make more in the next seven years than our whole team in the next four is not good."

Maybe so, but it was only three years later the Colorado Rockies signed Mike Hampton to possibly the worst pitcher contract of all-time. To put Brown's paycheck in perspective, consider the next three $100-million arms:

Brown's baseball card looks as good as Johan Santana's over the duration of their contract, which is especially impressive given the latter's reputation as one of the most talented lefties of his generation. Santana, of course, missed two years due to injury while Brown pitched above league average in five of his seven seasons.

In reality, Hampton's deal took much longer for the league to recover from.

Barry Zito became baseball's third $100-million pitcher in 2007 and by the beginning of this decade the exclusive club was only up to five members. Compare that to hitters who tripled that number by 2010, including a pair of contracts in excess of $200-million.

Sixteen of the 58 contracts signed for $100-million or above have been awarded to pitchers, and Clayton Kershaw didn't raise the bar to $200 million until 15 years after Brown broke hallowed ground.

Perhaps most impressive about Brown's deal is it came in anticipation of his age-34 season. It wasn't an extension signed during his prime - the Dodgers made Brown the first $100-million player as a free agent and willingly paid him for his age 34-40 years.

The groundball virtuoso didn't give his new team the best years of his career, but they weren't his worst, either. He finished in the top six Cy Young voting his first two seasons in Los Angeles, was the ERA/WHIP leader in 2000 and hit the 200-inning benchmark in three out of seven years. Adjusted for ballpark and league, Brown's ERA+ is the fourth-best among pitchers in their 34-40 seasons since integration (minimum 900 innings).

When the worst contracts of all-time come to mind, Brown's isn't one of them. That's an impressive feat in itself.