Four Famous Bostonians Who Are Rich…and Overpaid

Photographs via Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (Wahlberg); Keith Allison (Sandoval); Harvard University (Faust); City of Boston Mayor’s Office (Brissette); Yearly compensation figures were the most recently available as of press time

1. Mark Wahlberg, Actor
$30 million

Marky Mark just hasn’t delivered at the box office lately, returning an average of $9.20 for every dollar his films cost, according to a recent Forbes survey. (Sudbury son Chris Evans raked in $135.80.) But honestly, we think he deserves inclusion for Ted alone, an embarrassment to his hometown.

2. Pablo Sandoval, Third Baseman, Boston Red Sox
$17.6 million

The not-so-lovably overweight free-agent signee finished the 2015 season ranked 35th in annual salary and 1,126th in Wins Above Replacement Player. He wound up being more valuable in 2016 simply by playing three games, getting injured, and not playing again.

3. Drew Gilpin Faust, President, Harvard University
$1.2 million

In 2016, Faust opposed the (successful) unionization of the university’s dining workers, the (unsuccessful) unionization of the university’s student employees, and, as ever, divestment from the fossil fuel industry. Reminder: Harvard’s endowment is $37 billion.

4. Ken Brissette, Boston Director of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment
$102,596

Brissette was indicted last year on a federal charge of attempting to strong-arm the Boston Calling festival into using union labor—he pleaded not guilty. The indictment also alleged that he applied enough pressure on Top Chef for producers to move the show outside the city.