The recent election of Marvin Miller and Ted Simmons to the Hall of Fame has stirred up discussion on SABR-L about which catchers belong and the role Curt Flood played in the eventual rights to free agency that the players obtained.
Long-time SABR member Bill Deane, who has written several books on baseball and has been widely published in Baseball America, Baseball Digest, The Sporting News, USA Today Baseball Weekly, to name a few, posted a very cogent article on the List about free agency, which I will summarize in paraphrase and quotes.
Until the 1970s, the owners had all the power, then after the 1969 season the Cardinals traded Curt Flood to the Phillies and he did not want to go so he refused to report or sign a contract, telling Commissioner Kuhn that he was "not a piece of property to be bought or sold." However, failure to sign a contract by a certain date automatically brought blacklisting and his efforts in courts to overturn baseball's right to do so failed.
It is Deane's opinion that Ted Simmons, another Cardinal, "unwittingly paved the way for free agency in the same year that Flood lost his case." Simmons batted .304 while making $17,5000 in 1971 but was only offered $25,000 in 1972. He refused to sign but kept coming to work every day, anyway, which allowed the Cardinals to invoke the "renewal clause," allowing them "to unilaterally renew a player's contract from the previous season...with up to a 20% cut." He finally agreed on July 24th to a two-year contract for $75,000. “I’m no crusader,” Simmons admitted. “I don’t even have a lawyer. All I want is more money.”
But in 1973, six players (Mike Andrews, Stan Bahnsen, Dick Billings, Jerry Kenney, Fritz Peterson, and Rick Reichardt) all began the season without contracts. "but each was either signed or released before the campaign ended."
The following season Sparky Lyle waited until the last day of the season to sign and Bobbie Tolan waited until December.
That brings us to 1975 when Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith went the distance (Richie Zisk signed in post-season, Messersmith played without a written contract although he had been offered $115,000). The Players’ Association filed a claimed that the two pitchers were entitled to “free agent” status and when the grievance was filed, the arbitrator ruled Messersmith "had already retired" and "could sell his services to the highest bidder."
The floodgates opened.