Evening star., 1946-07-20
Reserve Clause Crux
OF Pending Confabs
For a New Contract
By 6oyIe ToIbot
Assoeiotsd Press Sports Writer

NEW YORK, July 20.-It look.
as though the biggest job the base.
ball owners and league president!
will have on their hands when the,
meet with the six players represent.
atives here on August S will be tt
convince their opposite number.
that the so-called reserve clause
is a great thing for everybody ane
should be retained.
1t seems certain that the 81,
-spokesmen-three from each
league-will enter this, the first such
meeting in diamond history, bearing
mandate from their fellow per.
formers to take a whack at the
clause which Is the backbone of or.
ganized ball.
The players never have liked the
clause, for the reason that it binds
them for their playing life to the
club which first gets their name on
a contract. Unless the player is sold
or traded, he can never hope to bet
ter his situation, become a member
OF team which pays higher salaries
Why Some Stars Are Irked.
This causes admitted inequalities
and it rankles the star who is draw
ing down perhaps $4,000 year
from one of the less prosperous clubs
to realize that players no better than
he are making twice that with. saw
the Yankees or the Detroit Tigers.
The player either can accept the
contract offered him by his owners
or he can hold out and make a fight
OF 1t each spring, or he can retire
from baseball. Dickie Kerr. the
great little White Sox pitcher, quit
baseball for life when he was at the
height OF his career, and Eddie
Roush once remained out of the
Giants lineup for year.
That is the players side of 1t. Some
feel that they are Slaves" and they
have always felt that the reserve
clause was wicked, unlawful in
strument that would not stand up if
1t were challenged in court. Yet
there has never been a serious, sus-
tanned effort DJ the players to fight
1t out in the courts. and President
Larry MacPhail of the Yankees de-
clared yesterday that he had never
had a player tell him the clause
should be abolished.
NO matter what the individual
player thinks of the clause as it
affects him, he realizes that big
league ball as We know it now could
not exist without such a provision. ("
MacPhail said And he realizes
there is no way of modifying the
clause. Either we have it or we
don't.
The clause, as matter of fact,
is not as one-sided as it sounds, and
when 1t is considered in conjunction
with all the other clauses of a play
er's contract it loses a lot of it's sting.
The player enjoys a lot of protec-
ton, too.
Il, as club official, don't have
all the advantage when I prepare
to sign a player in the spring. What
If he's one of our key men, one we
need to keep us up in the race? All
he stands to lose by holding out is
maybe few thousand dollars. 1t
could cost me $150,0O0 or even more
if, by not having him in the lineup,
We lost four or five games early in
the season and got beat out of the
World Series.
Differences Usually Small.
so you can bet I'm going to do
everything in my power to get him
signed, and at his terms If they're
not too unreasonable. You would be
surprised what a small amount
usually separates a player and a club
when they are arguing in the spring
only a few hundred dollars as a
rule"
While baking at the suggestion of
abolishing the reserve clause, Mac
Phail declared he was strongly in
favor of several revisions in the con-
tracts. He said he thought the
cause which enables club to re-
lease a player on 10 days notice was
"inequitable as hell" and that he
thought player should receive the
salary stipulated in his contract no
matter If he was sent down to a
minor league.
MacPhail is chairman of the club
owners committee which will meet
with the players delegates here.
From his remarks yesterday, it was
plain that the games employers are
prepared to meet their hired hands
halfway and are extremely anxious
to get their differences ironed out.
But the reserve clause, it stays.