Evening star., 1953-12-09
Majors 70 Study
Ending Pension,
Owner Reports
AL Picks Greenberq
For Inquiry; Leagues
Interrupt Session
BY the Associated Press

I'VE w 1OItEAyS OCC. 0.-AI1
American League club owner
told the Associated Press today
that his league has approved a
resolution to set up a committee
which would study the pos
sibility of terminating the
major league pension plan and
had appointed Hank Greenberg,
Cleveland general manager, as
it's representative.
The same club owner said it
was his understanding that the
National League also had passed
the resolution.
The club owner made his as
sertion as Commissioner Ford
Frick temporarily halted the
joint meeting of the two baseball
leagues and went into executive
session with club presidents. The
Joint session was to resume
later.
The resolution originally was
recommended by baseball's
Executive Council September 30.
F'rick told of it at Atlanta last
week.
Frick Pledges Fight.
Frick said yesterday the
pension plan will be abandoned
only over my dead body" al
though the player representa-
tives walked out on him at At
lanta last Wednesday.
The owners, in separate league
meetings yesterday, discussed
the pension plan, as well as the
player demands, but. refused to
announce their decisions.
Yesterdays disclosure that the
16 player representatives had
sought and acted on the advice
of former Commissioner A. B.
(Happy) Chandler before they
walked out on Frick last week,
took the baseball folks here by
storm. That was a chief topic of
discussion in the hotel lobby and
in the meeting of at least one
league.
Frick refused to discuss this
latest turn of events, but he did
not shy away from questions
concerning his hassle with the
league player representatives,
Ralph Kiner and Allie Reynolds.
He insisted Kiner and Reynolds
had given their assent to the
resolution which is aimed at ter
minating the pension plan and
that the players attorney, j.
Norman Lewis, was in the room
when it happened.
Reynolds Backs Up Kiner.
Reynolds joined Kiner yester-
day in denying he ever heard
any such resolution, let alone
vote on it.
81 want to go on record that
I have not voted to terminate
the plan, as has been implied,
he said. "We couldn't vote, any
way, because we have no vote in
the Executive Council meeting,
1t was my understanding that
the main point in the resolution
was to appoint a committee to
get together and review the pen
sion plan to see if it could be
improved. AS far as I know
nothing has been done"
Frick conceded that the play
ers might not have understood
the resolution, which included
enough legal phrases to battle
the ordinary layman.
The players contend they
should get all the radio and tele-
vision money from the Worlc
Series and All-Star games. II
their telephone conversation
with Chandler last Wednesday
he advised them that the entire
revenue from the World Series
radio and TV was theirs. HI
said he had stipulated that ir
the contract drawn up in 1946
The players want all tht
money to go into the pension
fund. Only about 70 per cent O.
it is currently used to support
the fund. The rest is kept in {
central fund for emergency ust
to help out INDECENT ball players
American Legion baseball anC
other charity organizations.