Home Run Derby 1960 money was significant to the players.

Dick Stuart earned 54.5% of his 1959 salary.  Bob Allison earned 50%.  Even the highest paid player among the participants, Willie Mays, made 10%.  All salary figures are taken from baseball-reference.com.  In many cases the source is "Michael Haupert research of HOF contracts".  In some I used another source cited based on my judgement.  For instance Mays is listed with $160,000 but I used $80,000.  Mickey Mantle was listed with $70,000; I used $75,000.  Winnings are from wikipedia.org.  The players were guaranteed $1,000 for participating in one contest.  All Kaline, Duke Snider, Eddie Mathews and Gus Triandos wound up with the minimum.  There was also bonus money for hitting consecutive homers, which boosted Jensen's winnings the most.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Run_Derby_(TV_series)

The winner received a check for $2,000 and was invited back for the next week's episode against a new opponent (a rarity in that era for syndicated games); the runner-up received a check for $1,000.[2] If a batter hit three home runs in a row, he would receive a $500 bonus check. A fourth home run in a row would be worth another $500 bonus check. Any consecutive home runs hit beyond that would each be worth $1,000.  Each show would end with the host presenting each player with their prize checks (beginning with the loser)...  As an incentive for throwing good home-run-hitting balls, the pitcher who threw the most pitches for home runs also received a bonus, according to the host.

Unlike more modern home run derbies, which usually award prizes in the form of charity donations to a player's choice of charity, the economic realities of the era meant that the cash prizes earned by the players on the show were a substantial income supplement.
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nameFirst	nameLast	wins	losses	salary	winnings	win/sal
Hank	Aaron	6	1	$40,000.00	$13,500.00	33.75%
Bob	Allison	1	2	$6,000.00	$3,000.00	50.00%
Ernie	Banks	1	2	$45,000.00	$4,500.00	10.00%
Ken	Boyer	1	1		$3,000.00
Bob	Cerv	1	1	$32,500.00	$3,000.00	9.23%
Rocky	Colavito	0	2	$28,000.00	$2,500.00	8.93%
Gil	Hodges	1	1	$38,000.00	$3,000.00	7.89%
Jackie	Jensen	2	2	$38,000.00	$5,500.00	14.47%
Al	Kaline	0	1	$31,000.00	$1,000.00	3.23%
Harmon	Killebrew	2	2		$6,000.00
Jim	Lemon	0	2		$2,000.00
Mickey	Mantle	4	1	$75,000.00	$10,000.00	13.33%
Eddie	Mathews	0	1	$50,000.00	$1,000.00	2.00%
Willie	Mays	3	2	$80,000.00	$8,000.00	10.00%
Wally	Post	1	1		$3,000.00
Frank	Robinson	1	1		$3,500.00
Duke	Snider	0	1	$43,500.00	$1,000.00	2.30%
Dick	Stuart	2	1	$11,000.00	$6,000.00	54.55%
Gus	Triandos	0	1		$1,000.00

I could not find 1959 salaries for some.  Killebrew received $20,000 in 1960 for some perspective on him.  Cerv received a nice hike for his one big season of 38 homer runs in 1958, which helped get him invited to participate on the program.

See:

Home Run Derby 1960: a different perspective.  Wednesday, February 5, 2014