There are those of us who are old enough to remember the birth of what we now know today as Free Agency in Baseball.  As a Phillies fan, I remember the St. Louis Cardinals trading Curt Flood  to the Phils in October, 1969 resulting in Flood’s sitting out the 1970 season while vainly fighting against Baseball’s “Reserve Clause” and battling to be declared a free Agent.  In 1971 Flood returned to play in 13 games with the then AL Washington Senators before finally retiring from Baseball.

In 1999, St. Petersburg Times reporter Bruce Lowitt wrote on the Reserve Clause and the beginnings of Free Agency;

It was called the Reserve Clause. What it was was indentured servitude.

It was the antithesis of free agency, a paragraph in each player’s contract that allowed a baseball team to keep him indefinitely until he was sold, traded or released. It was part of baseball’s antitrust exemption and allowed the team to renew his contract the following year even if the player refused to sign.

The players insisted the renewal was good for one year; owners said it could be invoked indefinitely.

The Reserve Clause had been unsuccessfully challenged several times. After the 1969 season, 14-year outfielder Curt Flood was traded by St. Louis to Philadelphia. He appealed in vain to commissioner Bowie Kuhn to be declared a free agent, then sued for it, writing that he was not property to be bought and sold regardless of his wishes and that “any system that produces that result violates my basic right as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States.” On June 19, 1972, the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 against him.

The first chink in the owners’ armor came after the 1974 season when Oakland pitcher Catfish Hunter claimed A’s owner Charles O. Finley had breached part of his contract. An arbitrator agreed, saying that invalidated the rest of its provisions. Hunter was declared a free agent and, on New Year’s Eve, signed a five-year, $3.75-million contract with the Yankees.

The Reserve Clause finally crumbled Dec. 23, 1975.

Pitchers Andy Messersmith, 30, of the Dodgers and Dave McNally, 33, of the Expos had played the 1975 season without contracts, then demanded the right to put themselves on the open market.

A three-man panel heard the case, an owner’s representative, a players’ representative, and Peter Seitz, an independent arbitrator. Seitz cast the deciding vote, ruling that Messersmith and McNally were free of further obligations to their teams.

Seitz said the owners had claimed that free agency would seriously damage the reserve system, and baseball itself. If there were any legitimacy to their fears, Seitz said, “dislocations and damage to the reserve system can be avoided or minimized through good-faith collective bargaining between the parties.”

The owners’ response, besides howling that it was the eve of destruction of baseball, was to fire Seitz and take his decision to federal court.

Kuhn, a lawyer, called it “a disaster for the great majority of the players, for the clubs and most of all for the fans. It is just inconceivable that after nearly 100 years of developing this system for the overall good of the game, it should be obliterated this way.”

In February 1976 a federal judge upheld Seitz’s decision. The door to free agency was thrown open and, in their 1976 collective-bargaining agreement, the players and owners did agree — after much acrimony, including a spring-training lockout by the owners — to a system of free agency.

McNally didn’t benefit from the Seitz decision. He retired before the 1976 season. Messersmith, however, cashed in, signing on April 10, 1976, what his agent, Herb Osmond, called “a lifetime contract” with Atlanta, an odd turn of phrase considering Messersmith and McNally had fought the system that bound a player to one team in perpetuity.

The three-year, $1.75-million contract contained “renewal clauses every year,” Osmond said. “Messersmith will pitch as long as he can pitch.” Braves owner Ted Turner gushed: “He’ll never be traded. He’ll be a Brave as long as I am.”

After two undistinguished seasons, Messersmith was sold to the Yankees. After an 0-3 record in 1978 in New York, he wound up back with the Dodgers. The 1979 season was his last.

Flood didn’t want to go to the Phils; they were a terrible club, playing in an old stadium and he didn’t like the fans either.

Baseball Library provides more background on the specific case of the St. Louis Cardinals and Curt Flood’s trade to the Phillies.

Flood sat out 1970, but signed with the Senators in 1971 for $110,000. To get the rights to Flood, who was still bound by the reserve clause, Washington had to part with marginal players Greg Goossen, Jerry Terpko, and Gene Martin, none of whom would ever appear with Philadelphia. Flood played 13 games for Washington, hit a paltry .200, and retired in April.

One of the biggest early “blockbuster” Free Agencies was that of Cincinnati’s Pete Rose.  After his 1978 charge attempting to break Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hit streak (Pete hit in 44 straight games), Rose became a Free Agent and was signed to a 4 year, $3.2 million contract with the Phillies. 

                            

Baseball Library writes about the period surrounding Rose’s acquisition by the Phillies;

Nov 4, 1978 - The 3rd annual reentry free-agent draft is held at the Plaza Hotel‚ New York City. Pete Rose‚ Tommy John‚ and Darrell Evans are the biggest names among the eligible players.

Dec 5, 1978 - A week after Sparky Anderson leaves the Reds‚ free agent Pete Rose signs a 4-year‚ $3.2 million contract with the Phillies‚ temporarily making him the highest-paid athlete in team sports.

In 1978, Rose mounted the last serious threat to Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak. Rose hit safely in 44 straight games, the most by a NL player in the 20th century. On May 5, he became the youngest player ever to reach 3,000 hits. After the season, Rose became a free agent and, after a fierce bidding war, signed with the Phillies. Installed at first base, his fifth position in the majors, he hit .331. The next season, despite only a .282 regular-season average, he helped the Phillies win their first-ever World Championship. With one out in the ninth inning of the sixth and final game of the World Series, the Phillies were leading 4-1 with Tug McGraw on the mound, but the bases were full of Royals. Frank White’s foul pop bounced out of catcher Bob Boone’s glove, but Rose grabbed it in the air to prevent a possible tragedy. In the strike-shortened 1981 season, Rose led the league in hits and had his last .300 season, batting .325.

I calculated back 1978, based on Rose’s average number of hits per year, that his contract with the Phillies paid the equivalent of approximately $4,500 per base hit.

But by comparison with today’s Free Agency market, Rose’s 4 year contract with the Phils was chump change.

Here are some of the most recent headlines regarding the 2007 Free Agent market;

• Tigers, Inge Agree to Four-Year, $24 Million Extension
• Pettitte Agrees With Yankees on $16 Million, 1-Year Deal
• Marquis Likely to Join Cubs ”Terms have not yet been agreed to — the deal is likely to be in the $20 million range.”

And of course, we all know about;  Alfonso Soriano; 8 years, $136 million,  J. D. Drew; 5 years, $70 million, Carlos Lee; 6 years, $100 million, just to name a few.

The question now is; how long before we see the first $1 billion Free Agency contract?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 11th, 2006 at 9:39 am and is filed under All Time Baseball Highlights, Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, Off-Season Deals, Trades, Free Agency, Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.