Abstract
In this article, Ed Edmonds chronicles the evolution of labor relations in America’s favorite pastime from the first collective bargaining agreement to the arbitration that resulted in free agency for players. Edmonds describes the players’ struggles with the reserve clause, a standard clause contained in all player contracts which allowed a team to retain the rights to a player even after the expiration of his contract. Although a player was not obligated to play for the contracted team, he was not free to enter into a contract with another team. Therefore, a player’s only option was to negotiate a new contract with the same team, ask to be traded or released, or retire. Professor Edmonds discusses the collective bargaining strategies and leverage players utilized to negotiate more advantageous contracts with team owners. This article focuses on how those negotiations led up to the arbitration which ultimately dismantled the reserve clause.
Recommended Citation
Ed Edmonds,
At the Brink of Free Agency: Creating the Foundation for the Messersmith-McNally Decision ─ 1968–1975,
34
S. Ill. U. L.J.
565
(2010).
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siulj/vol34/iss3/3