UNITED STATES – JAPANESE

PLAYER CONTRACT AGREEMENT
1) If a Japanese Professional Baseball Club (hereinafter referred to as a “JapaneseClub”) wishes to contact and engage a baseball player, professional or amateur, whois currently playing or has played baseball in the United States or Canada, and/or isunder contract with a Club that is a member of the National League or American
League of Professional Baseball Clubs (hereinafter referred to as an “AmericanPlayer”), the Japanese Club shall first request that the Office of the Commissioner ofJapanese Professional Baseball (hereinafter referred to as the “JapaneseCommissioner”) determine the status and availability of the American Player ashereinafter provided by communicating with the Major League Baseball Office ofthe Commissioner (hereinafter referred to as the “U.S. Commissioner”). The U.S.
Commissioner shall respond to a request from the Japanese Commissioner withinfour (4) business days. The Japanese Commissioner shall keep the identity of anyJapanese Club(s) inquiring as to the status of an American Player confidential in his
communications with the U.S. Commissioner.
2) If the American Player is on the Reserve, Military, Voluntarily Retired, Restricted,Disqualified, Suspended or Ineligible List of any Club that is a member of theNational League or American League of Professional Baseball Clubs (“hereinafterreferred to as a “U.S. Major League Club”), as such Lists are described in the Major
League Rules adopted January 20, 2000, the Japanese Club shall not contact orengage the American Player unless approval to do so has been given by such U.S.
Major League Club through the U.S. Commissioner.
3) If the American Player is not one concerning whom approval must be obtained underparagraph (2), the U.S. Commissioner shall so notify the Japanese Commissioner
and the Japanese Club may then contact and engage the American Player. Ifapproval is required under paragraph (2), the U.S. Commissioner shall transmit to1

the Japanese Commissioner the approval or disapproval of the U.S. Major LeagueClub.
4) If a U.S. Major League Club wishes to contact and engage a baseball player,
professional or amateur, who is currently playing or who has played baseball inJapan and/or is under contract with a Japanese Club (hereinafter referred to as a“Japanese Player”), the U.S. Major League Club shall first request that the U.S.
Commissioner determine the status and availability of the Japanese Player in thesame manner that the status and availability of an American Player is determinedhereunder. The Japanese Commissioner shall respond to the request from the U.S.
Commissioner within four (4) business days. The U.S. Commissioner shall keep theidentity of any U.S. Major League Club(s) inquiring of the status of a JapanesePlayer confidential in his communications with the Japanese Commissioner.
5) If the Japanese Player is on the Reserve, Military, Voluntarily Retired, Restricted,Disqualified, Suspended or Ineligible List of any Japanese Club, as such Lists aredescribed in the Japanese Professional Baseball Rules as of February 1, 2000, theU.S. Major League Club shall not contact or engage the Japanese Player unlessapproval to do so has been given by the Japanese Club through the JapaneseCommissioner and then only pursuant to the procedures set forth in paragraphs (8)through (12) below.
6) If the Japanese Player is not one concerning whom approval must be obtained underparagraph (5), the Japanese Commissioner shall so notify the U.S. Commissioner
and the U.S. Major League Club may then contact and engage the Japanese Player.
If approval is required under paragraph (5), the Japanese Commissioner shalltransmit to the U.S. Commissioner the approval or disapproval of the Japanese Club.
If approval is granted, the procedures set forth in paragraphs (8) through (12) below
shall apply.

27) If, in response to an inquiry by a U.S. Major League Club or on its own initiative, aJapanese Club wishes to make a Japanese Player concerning whom approval must
be obtained under paragraph (5) available to U.S. Major League Clubs, such
Japanese Club may make such Japanese Player available to U.S. Major League
Clubs only pursuant to the procedures set forth in paragraphs (8) through (12)below.
8) With respect to a player covered by paragraph (5) whom a Japanese Club wishes tomake available to the U.S. Major League Clubs, the Japanese Club shall requestthat the Japanese Commissioner notify the U.S. Commissioner of the Japanese
Club’s desire to make the Japanese Player available. The U.S. Commissioner thenshall post the Japanese Player’s availability by notifying all U.S. Major League
Clubs of the intention of the Japanese Club to make the player available.
9) All requests by Japanese Clubs for postings must be made during the period
commencing on November 1 of a given year and ending on March 1 of the followingyear and must be accompanied by the Japanese Club’s medical records, i.e., trainers’
reports and doctors’ reports in the possession of the Japanese Club for the JapanesePlayer in question, which will be made available to the U.S. Major League Clubs.
Within four (4) business days of the posting of the availability of the JapanesePlayer by the U.S. Commissioner, any interested U.S. Major League Club must
submit to the U.S. Commissioner a bid, composed of monetary consideration only, tobe paid to the Japanese Club as consideration for the Japanese Club relinquishing
its rights to the player in the event that the U.S. Major League Club reaches anagreement with the Japanese Player. No direct or indirect contact may be madebetween a U.S. Major League Club and the Japanese Club concerning a posted
player and/or the amount of the bid to be submitted by a U.S. Major League Club.
The U.S. Commissioner shall have the authority, pursuant to paragraph (13) below,
to take action that he deems appropriate in the event he concludes that a contact
prohibited by the preceding sentence has been made concerning a posted player.

310) At the conclusion of the bidding period, the U.S. Commissioner shall determine thehighest bidder among the U.S. Major League Clubs and that determination of thehighest bidder shall be conclusive and binding on all parties. The U.S.
Commissioner then shall notify the Japanese Commissioner of the amount of thebid submitted by the successful bidder, and the Japanese Commissioner will havefour (4) business days to notify the U.S. Commissioner of whether that bid isacceptable to the Japanese Club involved.
11) If the highest bid is not acceptable to the Japanese Club making the JapanesePlayer available, the Japanese Player’s posting will be withdrawn and anotherrequest for posting with respect to that Japanese Player shall be prohibited until
the following November 1. If the highest bid is acceptable to the Japanese Club, theU.S. Commissioner shall award the sole, exclusive, and non-assignable right tonegotiate with and sign the posted Japanese Player to the U.S. Major League Clubthat submitted the highest bid. That U.S. Major League Club then shall have 30
days from the date of the notice by the U.S. Commissioner that the bid isacceptable to the Japanese Player’s Japanese Club in which to sign the JapanesePlayer. If the Japanese Player signs a contract with the U.S. Major League Club
within 30-day period, the U.S. Major League Club shall pay the Japanese Club theamount of its successful bid within five (5) business days of the confirmation ofterms with the Major League Baseball Players Association in the case of a Major
League Contract or within five (5) business days of the reporting of terms to theU.S. Commissioner’s Office in the case of minor league contract.
12) If the U.S. Major League Club, for any reason, fails to sign the Japanese Player
within the 30-day period, the U.S. Major League Club’s negotiation rights shalllapse and the U.S. Major League Clubs shall have no obligation to pay theJapanese Player’s Japanese Club the amount of its successful bid (or any otherobligation whatsoever). Further, another request for posting with respect to thatJapanese Player shall be prohibited until the following November 1.

413) The U.S. Commissioner shall have the authority to oversee the bidding procedures
set forth in paragraphs (8) through (12) above to ensure that they not been
undermined in any manner. Among other actions that he may deem appropriate
and in the best interests of baseball, the U.S. Commissioner shall have theauthority to revoke a U.S. Major League Club’s exclusive negotiation rights withrespect to a Japanese Player (and, subject to the Japanese Club’s approval
pursuant to paragraph (11) above, to award such rights to the next highest bidder,
if any) and to declare null and void any contract between a Japanese Player and aU.S major League Club that the U.S. Commissioner deems was the result ofconduct that was inconsistent with this Agreement or otherwise not in the bestinterests of professional baseball.
14) U.S. Major League Clubs and Japanese Clubs are free to enter into working
agreements. Such working agreements, however, cannot provide a U.S. Club withexclusive or preferential rights to contract with Players on the Reserve, Military,Voluntarily Retired, Restricted, Disqualified, Suspended or Ineligible Lists of aJapanese Club. All working agreements must be filed with the U.S. and JapaneseCommissioners, and either Commissioner may take action to require modificationsof terms deemed to be inconsistent with this Agreement or otherwise not in thebest interests of professional baseball in that country. The U.S. Commissioner
shall be advised immediately of any negotiations or transactions between Clubs
and/or Players of the United States and Japan.
15) This Agreement is subject to current and future legal restrictions in the UnitedStates and Japan.
16) If either party to this Agreement has a material change in its reserve rules or any
other rule identified in paragraph (2) or (5) herein, that party shall have anobligation immediately to notify the other party of the change, and the other party
shall have the right to seek renegotiation of and/or void this Agreement upon ten5

(10) days’ written notice.
17) Subject to paragraph 16 above, this Agreement shall have a term of two (2) years
commencing on December 15, 2000 and ending on December 15, 2002 (“the InitialTermination Date”). One hundred and eighty (180) days prior to the Initial
Termination Date, either the U.S. Commissioner or the Japanese Commissioner
shall have the right to give notice of his intention to modify or terminate thisAgreement and, promptly after the issuance of such notice, the parties shallcommence discussions concerning the extension or amendment of this Agreement.
If neither the U.S. Commissioner nor the Japanese Commissioner gives notice ofhis intention to modify or terminate this Agreement 180 days prior to the Initial
Termination Date, this Agreement shall continue from year-to-year until either theJapanese Commissioner or the U.S. Commissioner gives notice of his intention tomodify or terminate this Agreement one hundred and eighty (180) days prior to
any anniversary of the Initial Termination Date.
* Supplemental Procedures1)

A Japanese club may, at any time up to 30 days before making a player available to
all MLB clubs though the posting procedure, make information about the player(statistics, video, etc.) available to all MLB clubs, provided that the Japanese club
first notifies the Japanese Commissioner’s Office. Any information sent by theJapanese club to any MLB club must be sent to all MLB clubs simultaneously, on
an equal basis, with copies of the information sent as well to the JapaneseCommissioner’s Office and to the U.S. Commissioner’s Office.

2)

If there are no bids on a player through the posting procedure, a Japanese club
may post such player again during the same off-season (from November 1 to March1), until it receives a bid.

6