The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration James W. Eaton (bio) Roger I. Abrams . The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999. 218pp. Cloth, $27.50. "Negotiating a salary may not be as much fun as hitting a home run, but it is as much a part of the game," writes Northeastern University law professor Roger Abrams. Drawing upon his legal background, his experience as a Major League salary arbitrator, and principles of economics and game theory, Abrams explains that Major League salaries depend on talent and performance, bargaining status, and negotiating ability. He describes actual cases, including Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Bernie Williams, and Mo Vaughn, as well as imaginary negotiations between Roy Hobbs and the New York Knights. These illustrations of bargaining strategy and tactics make for informative and enjoyable reading. Unlike most labor unions, the Major League Baseball Players Association does not negotiate specific pay levels or job security for its members. Instead, [End Page 160]it bargains with team owners to set a league-wide minimumsalary, guarantee eligible players the right to salary arbitration and free agency, and specify rules and procedures for implementing these salary-determination mechanisms. Within these collectively negotiated parameters, players compete for positions and individually negotiate salaries. Baseball's traditional reserve system restricts a player early in his career to negotiating solely with his current team, severely curtailing his bargaining power. Once eligible for salary arbitration, his salary will be based at least in part on the earnings of similar players on other teams. Free agency allows a player to negotiate with all teams, widening his range of bargaining options and letting market forces set his pay. Binding final-offer salary arbitration resolves a negotiating impasse by submitting a player's salary request and his team's offer to an outside arbitrator. The arbitrator must choose either the player's figure or the team's, a feature designed to encourage the parties to submit reasonable figures and continue efforts to reach a settlement. Arbitration decisions may not be based on a team's financial condition. This fosters pay comparability across teams for players of similar caliber and makes the labor market national rather than local. Besides providing a wealth of details about player eligibility, deadlines, conduct and content of arbitration hearings, and criteria to be considered by the arbitrator, Abrams also offers thoughtful insights and suggestions for improving the process. He sees shorter and more focused presentations by each side as more desirable than the existing information overload. Arbitrators should either be given the evidence in advance of the hearing or be allowed more than twenty-four hours afterward to sift through it. Most statistics presented by both sides poorly measure a player's contribution to his team. Abrams considers run production, slugging average with men on base, and opponents' batting average the best indicators of players' values. He laments that reliance on statistics assigns unmeasurable player qualities, such as leadership and hustle, a negligible role in arbitration decisions. Abrams's comments on the use of statistics in arbitration hearings may be well founded, but they also suggest suspicion of statistical evidence in general. He adopts the guideline Albert Spalding gave to editors of his Official Baseball Guide: "Keep the book free of statistics as much as possible." Some troublesome flaws of The Money Pitchmay be unfortunate consequences of this choice. The book contains numerous unsubstantiated claims. For example, Abrams opines that free agency has been great for the game, without identifying the criteria for judging this and presenting the data required to assess those criteria. Furthermore, poor documentation mars the book. It lacks citations for direct quotes and specific research findings. A brief endnote section follows the text, but notes are not numbered and keyed to specific text statements. [End Page 161]The bibliography does not incorporate journal articles and contains notable omissions from accessible published works on the economics and business of baseball. A particular letdown is Abrams's discussion of his personal experiences as an arbitrator. After hearing their cases in 1986, he decided in favor of Brett Butler and against Ron Darling, but he provides...