In 2010, Douglas Gladstone wrote A
Bitter Cup of Coffee: How MLB and the Players Association Threw 974 Retirees a
Curve (ISBN: 978-1-59571-512-8). It’s a book
outlining the plight of former major league players who lack the service time
to qualify for a pension. He brought immediate attention to a subject that has
been swept under the proverbial rug for years. Some progress has finally been
made and small temporary payments have been issued to some of the men detailed
in his book.
The lack of true pensions for the
short-term players is a subject Gladstone is still passionate about. He
believes that MLB and the Players Association can do even more than the recent
developments.
I had the opportunity for Gladstone to elaborate
on how he came to the project and what he thinks about what has transpired
since the publication of his book.
How did you become so interested and passionate about the subject
of baseball pensions and the non-vested players?: It was really serendipitous.
First, in the interests of full disclosure, I happen to work for the New York
State & Local Retirement System during the day, so I think I know a little
about pensions and vesting. But basically, this story just fell in my lap; it
was just there for the taking because so many bloggers, as well as print
and broadcast journalists, have been too afraid or indifferent
about addressing it.
In April
2009, I had just done a piece for the Chicago Sun Times on the
late Larry Gelbart, and his role in the famous "Adam's Ribs" episode
of the iconic television show M*A*S*H, when my wife asked what I
was going to write about next. Frankly, I hadn't given it a lot of thought, but
I knew that July 9, 1969 was the 40th anniversary of what we here in New York
still refer to as Tom Seaver's "Imperfect Game," the night that a
little known Chicago Cub rookie, Jimmy Qualls, came up in the top of the
ninth inning, after Seaver had set down the first 25 batters, and lined a clean
single to left center field to break up his would-be gem. And, of course, until
Johann Santana threw his no-hitter this year, the Mets franchise hadn't had
one.
So I pitched
the story to Baseball Digest, which ultimately published the piece
in its September 2009 issue. When I called Jimmy up to speak to him in early
June of that year, he just casually mentioned that he wasn't receiving any
retirement benefit from MLB. And I just thought this was outrageous, especially
since in 1980 the league and the union agreed that all players who played at
least one game would be eligible to buy into the umbrella health insurance
plan, and all players who had at least 43 game days worth of service would get
a pension. And while that was obviously great for everyone who played baseball
after 1980, neither the league nor the union seemed to want to do the right
thing for all those guys who played between 1947 (when the players' pension
fund was first established) and 1980. And as any employment benefits attorney
will tell you, it can be done. All these guys can be retroactively restored or
grandfathered back into pension coverage. Even Rob Manfred, the vice-president
of labor relations for the league, concedes it can be done. But it can only be
done in collective bargaining, and so far, the players' association doesn't
want to do that. They're perfectly content with throwing these guys the life
annuity bone that they're now getting. And I just think that's not right.
With as much money as there is in baseball and the non-vested
players being a finite group, why do you think MLB has been so unwilling to put
the issue to bed?: Well legally, they don't have to do anything for these men. They're not vested in the players' pension
plan, so they don't have to negotiate over them. Even the union doesn't have to be their legal
advocate, because the union doesn't owe its retirees what is known as "the
duty of fair representation." So that payment plan that was announced last April 21st, in which men
like Qualls or Bob Sadowski or Herb Washington receive $625 per quarter
for each quarter of service (up to 16 quarters, or four years) that they're
credited with, is just a token gesture of support, in my opinion. And the
money isn't even guaranteed, it's only good through 2016. And if a Bob
Sadowski or Jimmy Qualls croaks tomorrow, he can't pass that money on to a
designated beneficiary or loved one. And it still doesn't give any of these
guys the health insurance they need. I mean, when I started speaking with
Jimmy, he couldn't even afford the premiums to pay his health insurance, like a
lot of people in this country.
Significantly,
I also think the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association is at fault
here too. Their leadership doesn't want to do anything more for these guys. If
they really wanted to advocate on behalf of their constituency, they would.
They would bang the drum...and loudly. But they're never going to. Remember
that old DeNiro picture, Bang the Drum Slowly? Well, you don't
hear Dan Foster or Brooks Robinson or anybody from that group banging the drum
loudly, softly, fastly or any which way. Sadly, the alumni association is the
quintessential example of an old boys’ network, and they have no intention to
rock the boat. They're just happy with the token gesture of support that is
being doled out.
**********************************************************
Though just a
pittance compared to what longer tenured players receive, payments have started
being received by the men profiled in Gladstone’s book. One recipient is former
Oakland A’s pinch runner extraordinaire Herb Washington.
As Gladstone
explains- “Herb Washington, the former Oakland Athletic who is now one of the
nation's most successful African-American restaurateurs, and who later
became chairman of the Board of Directors of the Buffalo, New York branch of
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, an, is among the men who received monies
last September; a second life annuity was supposed to be disbursed to him
in January 2012. Washington opened his first ever eatery in Rochester,
New York.
In the recently unveiled collective
bargaining agreement between the union and the league, these life annuities
were extended through 2016.
Washington,
who famously got picked off first base by Mike Marshall during the 1974 World
Series, reportedly purchased all the Youngstown, Ohio McDonalds franchises from
Sam Covelli, once the largest McDonalds franchise owner in this country.
A track
star from Belzoni, Mississippi, Washington attended Michigan State
University, where the four-time All American won one NCAA title, seven Big
Ten titles and tied or broke the world record in both the 50-yard and
60-yard dashes several times. Overall, Washington played in 105 games but had
31 stolen bases in 48 career attempts. He also scored 33 runs during his
abbreviated career playing for Charley Finley's Oakland Athletics, in spite of
the fact that he never once played the field or came up to the plate.”
Despite the
temporary payments, the fight is far from over. It’s just a beginning, with a
long way to go before MLB and the Players Association atone for having left so
many former players out in the cold. If there is any justice, a lasting
solution will be found and perhaps make the cup of coffee for those players a
little less bitter.
Disclaimer: I was provided with
no payment or other consideration for this review/article.
**********************
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