Did anybody see...

[bkbjones]

Originally Posted by Dakota

This also means that the whole free agent system is also a misapplication of federal labor law to professional sports. JMO.

So...should we go back to the players being mere chattel, often subject to the whims of an owner? Gawd, they probly all have secret shrines to Charlie Finley they bow to every day anyway.

Perhaps a return to a limited reserve system would help things along. Back in the olden days (speaking late 1800s) each club could "reserve" five players. Granted there were only 8-12 teams during this period, and rosters mostly were about 14-15 players. (In some cases, rosters were even smaller, with yesterday's starting pitcher helping take tickets or be the one-man grounds crew. The reserve system was in place largely due to the Players League (1890) and the Western League morphing into the American League in 1901 -- and the ever-present greed of owners.)

BTW, the judge who originally ruled baseball was not subject to antitrust laws was a fellow with weird hair, weird name and Bud Selig's role model, Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Landis was infamous as a federal judge, setting records almost daily for having judgments overturned.

Baseball may be doing well, but there is some fixing that would be in the best interests of the game, owners and players.