The St. Louis Cardinals players walked away with a nice pay day for winning the World Series:

St. Louis split $20.02 million for beating the Detroit Tigers. A full share of that was worth $362,173, the commissioner's office said Thursday. That was nearly $40,000 more than what White Sox players received last year.

Teams are allowed to divide the shares as they see fit. The Cardinals gave 48 full shares, 7.133 partial shares and 16 cash awards.

When the Cardinals won their previous title, in 1982, a full share was worth $43,280.

A full share for the Tigers was worth $291,668, more than $50,000 higher than the previous mark for a losing team. The 2000 New York Mets held that mark.

If you made the major league minimum in 2006, you nearly doubled your salary. Based on the two points of the Cardinals victories, winnings shares increased 8.9% annually over the period. Not super growth, but I believe it's well ahead of inflation during that period.