American & National Leagues of Professional Baseball Clubs v. Major League Baseball Players Ass'n

This is an appeal by Oakland Athletics, Division of Charles O. Finley & Co., Inc., from a judgment denying its petition to vacate an arbitration award in favor of James A. Hunter. 1

Hunter, a pitcher, contracted to play baseball for the appellant for the 1974 and 1975 seasons. The contract, dated February 11, 1974, required *496 payment to the player of $100,000 for each of the two seasons. A “special covenant” included in the agreement provided: “. . . the said Club will pay to any person, firm or corporation designated by said Player, the sum of Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars, per year, for the duration of this contract to be deferred compensation, same to be paid during the seasons as earned.” As proposed by Hunter’s attorney, the last line had required the deferred compensation to be paid “at any time requested by said Player,” but at the request of appellant’s president, Charles O. Finley, these words had been stricken, and “during the seasons as earned” had been substituted. Four days after the contract date, Finley wrote to Hunter’s attorney that the club “will be very happy to cooperate in any manner possible to defer any amount of Mr. Hunter’s compensation”…

I dissent.

The affirmance of the arbitration award, in my opinion, is placing the court’s stamp of approval on a declaration that Finley should have signed an agreement despite its recognizable illegal objectives. I believe the arbitration award should be vacated because the arbitrators failed to recognize this illegality and for the further reason that the penalty assessed against Finley by the arbitrators, i.e., declaring Hunter to be a free agent, constituted an irrational award.

The case of Redke v. Silvertrust (1971) 6 Cal.3d 94 [ 98 Cal.Rptr. 293 , 490 P.2d 805 ], relied upon by the majority, does not suggest differently. In Redke , a husband, Sam, made an oral agreement with his dying wife, Ann, that he would leave the wife’s money, which she had willed to him, to the wife’s only surviving child, Mitzi. Sam, however, did not carry out his promise and left the money to a new wife and his natural children. Mitzi sought to enforce the oral agreement between Sam and Ann and was met with the objection that the oral agreement was not disclosed to the taxing authorities and that Sam had thereby improperly obtained a marital tax deduction. The Supreme Court reasonably found that…

This is an appeal by Oakland Athletics, Division of Charles O. Finley & Co., Inc., from a judgment denying its petition to vacate an arbitration award in favor of James A. Hunter. [1]

Hunter, a pitcher, contracted to play baseball for the appellant for the 1974 and 1975 seasons. The contract, dated February 11, 1974, required payment to the player of $100,000 for each of the two seasons. A "special covenant" included in the agreement provided: "... the said Club will pay to any person, firm or corporation designated by said Player, the sum of Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars, per year, for the duration of this contract to be deferred compensation, same to be paid during the seasons as earned." As proposed by Hunter's attorney, the last line had required the deferred compensation to be paid "at any time requested by said Player," but at the request of appellant's president, Charles O. Finley, these words had been stricken, and "during the seasons as earned" had been substituted. Four days after the contract date, Finley wrote to Hunter's attorney that the club "will be very happy to cooperate in any manner possible to defer any amount of Mr. Hunter's…