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  • stevekstevek Posts: 28,997 ✭✭✭✭✭
    <<< Seems like these guys would have died rather than wear the rivals colors! >>>

    For the most part, that statement is completely incorrect.

    For us the fans, MLB is entertainment, to the players it is a business. And of course we all understand this. Team loyalty is way, WAY far down on a player's list as a reason to stay with a team, if that reason exists at all for virtually all players. These players as well as probably any player, without hesitation would consider switching teams for more money. However, considerations such as their family living in a particular area, and possibly other considerations, are taken into account when a player stays with a team for less money than could be gotten elsewhere.
  • Economics speak louder than anything else. Fans tend to think that players did not think about the monetary rewards back when baseball was "the national pastime". Well, fans are very wrong.

    DiMaggio did have contract disputes with the Yankees (one of which was during the Depression - worked PR wonders as you can imagine) and was almost traded to the Red Sox.

    Also, the salaries that these players made back then were not as difficult for owners to swallow like they are today.

    So, to answer your question......yeas, free agency has changed everything.
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  • WondoWondo Posts: 2,916 ✭✭✭
    There once was a trade in the works - Williams for Dimaggio. That old time stuff is bologna. The players didn't have a choice!
    Wondo

  • SDSportsFanSDSportsFan Posts: 5,136 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The one player I know of who came through like that was Jackie Robinson. When the Dodgers traded Jackie to the Giants after the 1956 season, he retired rather than play for the Giants.


    Steve
  • 1420sports1420sports Posts: 3,473 ✭✭✭
    Read "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton for anyone that hasn't .... good read, popular baseball book. There was alot of salary type stuff in it.

    If free agency happened back then, many HOFers would have several teams listed on their plaque.
    collecting various PSA and SGC cards
  • AxtellAxtell Posts: 10,037 ✭✭
    If there was free agency and the type of money being tossed around then like there is today, there sure as hell wouldn't be any team loyalty.



  • << <i>If there was free agency and the type of money being tossed around then like there is today, there sure as hell wouldn't be any team loyalty. >>

    well that is probably true, but it sure is hard to imagine Ted in pinstripes or Mick with the Sox. Just not something I can imagine as a good thing, but you are right.....................for the right money, it could have happened.

  • DiMaggio was obsessed with money. If they had free agency back then, he would have jumped to the St. Louis Browns for more money in a heartbeat!
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