In October of 1985, new Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, fresh from running the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, was ready to do for Major League Baseball what he had done for the Los Angeles Olympics- turn a profit.

When Ueberroth addressed the owners in October of 1985 he stated:

Shortly thereafter the commissioner told the owners to stay away from long term contracts; nothing more than two years for a pitcher and no more than three years for a position player. Since Ueberroth was the man who turned a profit for the Olympics, it stood to reason that if the owners listened to him he could do the same for Baseball. So the owners listened and avoided signing free agents during the 1985 off season like the plague. Of course there was just one problem, the CBA clearly stated that the owners could not act together to limit salaries.

During the 1985-1986 off season there were 33 free agents, and 29 ended up remaining with the same club. The other four were not wanted by their prior club. Of interest was that Carlton Fisk of the Chicago White Sox received an offer from the New York Yankees, but when White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf called George Steinbrenner about this, the offer was pulled off the table.

By December of 1985 agents were wondering what was going on, and quickly contacted Don Fehr at the MLBPA . By February the union had filed a grievance

The 1986-1987 off season saw more of the same from the owners. The owners again restrained themselves in going after the best free-agents. Among the group of free-agents was Ron Guidry, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson and Lance Parrish. This was the year that Andre Dawson signed the blank contract with the Chicago Cubs for the one year low ball offer. Of course, Dawson’s agent Dick Moss wisely used the Cubs low ball offer to bolster the players’ charges of collusion. The average salary of a free agent declined by 16% during this off-season. In February of 1987 the players filed their second grievance.

In September of 1987 arbitrator Thomas Roberts ruled that the owners were guilty of collusion during the 1985 -86 off season, better known as Collusion I. The assessment of damages was to come at a later date.

Despite the ruling in September of 1987, the owners refused to give up on their idea of limiting free agent salaries. The owners next devised a system of sharing all offers that were made to free-agents. This was called an "information bank“. No matter what is was called, the owners were still colluding, and of course another grievance was filed.

A great link:    http://www.bizofbaseball.com/docs/Brown_Collusion
_Neyer_Blunders.pdf


Tomorrow - The assessment of damages


Judge Redfield T. Baum approves sale of Coyotes