Friday Stuff

Suspensions and Legal Proceedings Edition

Monday

For all of his many faults as the first commissioner of baseball, it must be acknowledged that Kenesaw Mountain Landis had a bit of a soft spot for the plight of minor league players.

For decades, minor leagues were completely independent. At best they had working relationships with big league clubs, often because they were mutually beneficial or there was a personal relationship between someone with the minor league team and someone working for a big league team, but nothing was formal. Minor league teams were free to market and sell their best players to whichever big league team would pay them the most money.

This was a pretty good arrangement for both the minor league clubs and their players. The teams were assured of having control of whatever good players they signed and developed and would be compensated if they chose to sell their contracts. The players could go to any team that came calling, unlimited by any formal affiliation between their minor league team and a particular one in the major leagues. This allowed them to move on to the big leagues faster, as major league clubs generally wouldn’t spend serious money to acquire them if they didn’t intend to play them.