What is David Cone's Net Worth and Salary?
David Cone is a retired American professional baseball pitcher who has a net worth of $30 million. David Cone played for five different MLB teams from 1986 to 2003. In the 1990s, he won five World Series titles, one with the Toronto Blue Jays and four with the New York Yankees. In 1999 David pitched a perfect game for the Yankees. The photo used in this article is of David being hoisted up by his teammates on the day he threw the perfect game. He was a five-time All Star. After retiring from playing, Cone became a lead color commentator for the Yankees.
Contracts and Career Earnings
David Cone earned around $67 million during his career. In 1993 David became the highest-paid baseball player in the league when he signed a three-year, $18 million contract with the Royals. That contract alone is worth more than $30 million today after adjusting for inflation.
Early Life and Education
David Cone was born on January 2, 1963 in Kansas City, Missouri to Joan and Edwin. As a teenager, he attended the Jesuit Rockhurst High School, where he played both football and basketball. Because the school did not have a baseball team, Cone played summer baseball in the collegiate Ban Johnson League. After graduating from Rockhurst, he enrolled at the University of Missouri.
Kansas City Royals, 1981-1986
In the 1981 MLB draft, Cone was drafted by the Kansas City Royals. He went on to amass a 22-7 record with a 2.21 ERA in his first two professional seasons in the Royals' farm club. After sitting out 1983 with an injury, Cone played for the Double-A Memphis Chicks in 1984. He subsequently played with the Class AAA Omaha Royals in 1985 and 1986, during which time he became a relief pitcher. In June of 1986, Cone made his debut in the majors in relief of Bret Saberhagen. He made three further appearances for the Royals before returning to Omaha. In September, Cone was called back up to the majors.
New York Mets, 1987-1992
Prior to the 1987 season, Cone was traded to the New York Mets. In his first season with the team, he went 5-6 with a 3.71 ERA and 68 strikeouts across 21 appearances. Cone showed enormous improvement in the 1988 season, with his first start being a complete game shutout of the Atlanta Braves. He finished the regular season with a 20-3 record and a 2.22 ERA, good enough for third place in NL Cy Young Award voting. The Mets went on to win the NL East title before falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Cone continued playing well during his first tenure with the Mets, leading the National League in strikeouts in both 1990 and 1991. In August of the latter year, in a win over the Cincinnati Reds, he became the 16th National League pitcher and the 25th MLB pitcher to pitch an immaculate inning. Cone achieved another major feat in the final game of the 1991 regular season by striking out 19 batters in a shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies. In the process, he tied with fellow Mets player Tom Seaver for the second-most strikeouts recorded in a nine-inning game.
Toronto Blue Jays, 1992
In the summer of 1992, the Mets traded Cone to the Toronto Blue Jays. With the team, he posted a 4-3 record with a 2.55 ERA and 47 strikeouts. The Blue Jays went on to win the AL East title and the ALCS en route to the World Series. In the World Series, the team defeated the Braves in six games, giving Cone his first World Series ring.
Kansas City Royals, 1993-1994
For the 1993 season, Cone returned to his original team, the Royals, as a free agent. He went on to have a solid season, posting a 3.33 ERA across 254 innings. Cone improved in the strike-shortened 1994 season, recording a 2.94 ERA and winning the AL Cy Young Award.
Toronto Blue Jays, 1995
Four days after the end of the 1994-95 MLB strike, Cone was traded back to the Blue Jays. He was at 9-6 with a 3.38 ERA when the fifth-place Jays made a deal to send him to the second-place New York Yankees.
New York Yankees, 1995-2000
Cone flourished with the New York Yankees after being acquired in the summer of 1995. That season, he posted a 9-2 record as the team won the wild card. The Yankees ultimately fell to the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS. In the offseason, Cone was re-signed with the Yankees on a three-year contract. Although he spent much of the 1996 regular season on the disabled list due to an arm aneurysm, he came back to join the Yankees for the World Series, which the team won over the Braves. It was the first World Series title for the Yankees in 18 years. Another World Series title came in 1998, a year that saw Cone winning the clinching games of the ALDS and ALCS.
Re-signed with the Yankees in 1999, Cone had an impressive season. On top of his 12-9 record, he pitched a perfect game against the Montreal Expos in July, making it the 16th perfect game in MLB history. However, that would be the final shutout he would throw in his career. The Yankees went on to win a second-consecutive World Series, this time sweeping the Braves. In his final season with the team in 2000, Cone posted the worst record of his career, 4-14, and the worst ERA, with 6.91. However, he ended up winning his fifth career World Series ring as the Yankees defeated the Mets in the tournament.
Vincent Laforet/Getty Images
Boston Red Sox, 2001
In the 2001 season, Cone pitched for the Boston Red Sox. His season was an uneven one, as he posted a 9-7 record with a 4.31 ERA. Cone retired after the season ended.
New York Mets, 2003
Cone came out of retirement in 2003 to attempt a comeback with his former team the Mets. However, he only played through May, at which point he announced his second and final retirement due to a chronic hip problem.
Post-Playing Career
During his first retirement from the MLB in 2002, Cone served as a color commentator on the newly created YES Network. Later, in 2008, he returned to the YES Network as the host of the show "Yankees on Deck." Cone went on to return to the Yankees broadcast booth in Toronto in 2011. Alongside former teammate Paul O'Neill, he serves as the team's lead color commentator.
Following the end of the 2021 season, Cone started co-hosting the podcast "Toeing the Slab" with Justin Shackil. The next year, he joined Karl Ravech, Buster Olney, and Eduardo Pérez on the "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcast team on ESPN.
Personal Life
When he played with the Yankees, Cone was known for his hedonistic lifestyle in New York City's nightlife scene. In 1991, he was falsely accused of rape, an accusation that was cleared up within a few days by police.
In late 1994, Cone married interior designer Lynn DiGioia. They had a son named Brian in 2006, and divorced in 2011. Cone also has a son named Sammy from his previous relationship with real estate broker and investor Taja Abitbol.
Real Estate
In 2016 David paid $8.1 million for an apartment in NYC's West Village. He sold this condo in May 2022 for $8.3 million. He had used the unit as a rental property for most of the time he owned it.
