The Lincoln times., 1955-03-14

oOCS VliC WI n VI
the ball field and brings home the
checks. but the Little Woman has
a great deal to say about the fig
ures in the contract. The Sporting
News points out.
Most players talk over proSpec-
tive salaries with their wives be-
tole talking to the ball club. AND
sometimes the wife can bring ur
an argument that makes much
sense to the player. although il
falls on deaf ears in the front Of-
flee.
1--WE want the wives to discuss
salaries with their husbands be-
cause a happy family man is a
better player" Branch Hickey, Jr
no is IN charge of Pirate con-
tracts. related recently.
But sometimes it doesn't work
out that way. The wife usually
tries to fit the players salary into
the family budget. The player may
be the father of IS children and
naturally he'll need a lot of mon
ey to take care of everybody.
But. unfortunately. he doesn't
have the ability as a player to
command a salary in keeping with
a family of that size. The ball
club must conduct negotiations on
the ability of a player, plus the
ability of the club to pay.
Zone player always referred us
to his wife at contract time and
we always had rough ordeal. She
was really the boss. We had to talk
to her with her husband sitting
silently by,
This fellow was a pitcher and
a good one. He had great poten-
tial but never was able to capital
ize on it. She warned him one time
if he took a cut in salary. she d
leave him.
We'll. he drifted out of base
bail and I understand he and his
wife are now divorced.
Most wives are very understand
inc about their husbands con-
tracts and offer sound suggestions.
Hickey says most players return
contracts asking for raises on the
basis of the cost of living and the
need of more money. He indi-
Gates this is the wrong approach.
The record of the player is the
only sound argument.
The toughest player I ever had
to sign was Carl Furillo, when l
was with the Dodgers, Hickey
continued. He never was out OF
line and our negotiations never
we're unpleasant, but Carl always
delayed signing. Usually he met
our train when it stopped in Phil
adelphia en- route to training camp
and came aboard with his signed
contract.
Il do believe the two easiest
fellows I ever had to deal with
were Pee Wee Reese and Preach
er Roe. They were both very fair.
And I've found the men in the
higher salary brackets sign the
fastest. I guess that's because they
feel they're getting what they're
worth.
One year Hickey sent a player a
contract with a raise because of a
rood season. but told the player
there were certain conditions and
he wanted to talk to him at train
ing camp.
Rickey had heard the young
mans habits off the field were not
OF the best and wanted to make
him understand a few things. But
the player in question brought his
wife to camp and she sat in on the
contract talk.
Naturally. I couldn't bring up
the delicate subject of his off-the-
field behavior, so we just forgot
all about it" Hickey added. Il
wonder if he's still trying to fig
re out what 1 wanted to talk to
him about?"
The RickeyS. both senior and
junior, claim they don't pay too
much attention to n-and-loSt
records for pitchers. They want to
know what kind of team the
pitcher had behind him, how much
luck figured into his record, whe-
ther he retired with big leads. Oh,
so many little details.
They tell a story of a pitcher in
the Cardinals farm system years
ago who had a 1872 record, but
Hickey did not move him out of
the minor league. They knew he
was lucky to win as often as he
did and therefore his record was
vastly over-rated.
But the next year this same
,oitobe, finished with Or and he