5 Alb. Govt. L. Rev. 156 (2012)
Henry D. Fetter
On December 23, 1975, a three-member arbitration panel
chaired, by neutral arbitrator Peter Seitz, ruled by a two-to-one
vote that Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Andy Messersmith and
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dave McNally were “free agents” who
could negotiate with any major league club for their future
services. That decision overturned professional baseball’s
“reserve system” that, in its various manifestations over the years since the origins of baseball as an organized sport in the late nineteenth century, had bound a player for the duration of his career to the first team that signed him to a contract.
The outcome of the arbitration turned on the construction of
paragraph 10(a) of the Uniform Player’s Contract (Paragraph
10(a)). The provision, which was included in players’ contracts
since 1947, permitted a ball club to renew its existing executed
contract with a player “for the period of one year on the same
terms” in the event a player did not sign a new contract for the
upcoming season by a specified deadline. In initiating the
arbitration, the Major League Baseball Players Association
(MLBPA), on behalf of Messersmith and McNally, contended that
having not signed new contracts for the 1975 season and instead having played out the “renewal” year, the pitchers were entitled to be adjudged “free agents” since the renewed contract was limited to “the period of one year.” The position of the ball clubs was that when Messersmith’s and McNally’s contracts were renewed prior to the 1975 season, the renewal “for the period of one year on the same terms” included renewal of the renewal right itself, thereby effectuating a continuing right to the player’s services for future seasons.