An Ugly Day in Baseball History - Unless You are a Baseball Player

On this day in 1975 MLB a major league arbitrator made Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally the first to benefit from free agency.  Neither had signed their contracts during their option year that had just ended.  They challenged the idea that one-year contracts were automatically renewed.

I don't remember that being a good day from a fan's perspective.  Player movement increased and it became difficult for the casual fan to keep track of who is on which team.  One of the Blue Jay teams that won in the early 1990s lost about 14 players the next year.  Not good for the casual fan.  Today player movement is really hindering growth of a fan base.

Baseball has not connected with the younger kids.  When I ask a class how many like baseball it usually ends up at only 20%.  That's not good for the long-term.

Messersmith played four more years winning only 18 games.  He did make 1.4 million dollars over his last few years.

McNally never played again.  He was only 32 at the time.

In future posts I will check out some of the players who became among the highest paid without being one of the best players.