Opening Day 2011 will be upon us shortly. The beginning of the Major League Baseball season will also mark the beginning of the third year for SLT. One of our favorite players in the sports law world is the late Charley Finley, who was the owner of the Oakland A's from 1960 (when the team was in Kansas City) to his sale of the franchise in 1980. SLT has already looked at two of Finley's more well known sports law disputes, the first being Finley breaching Jim "Catfish" Hunter's contract and eventually allowing players to realize their market value. (see this link: for more on "Catfish" Hunter's Contract Dispute At The Dawn Of Free-Agency.

Next, we took a look at Finley v. Kuhn.

There is another matter involving Charley Finley that is not as well known. Dick Williams was an outstanding manager, leading the A's to back-to-back World Series titles in 1972 and 1973.  But managing a ball club for Finley took a toll on Dick Williams, who resigned after the 1973 title. Williams still had two years remaining on his contract at the time of his resignation. Despite the fact Williams had two years remaining on his contract, he agreed to become manager of the New York Yankees under George Steinbrenner. Finley would have none of that and filed a breach of contract suit in an San Francisco federal court. The judge agreed with Finley, and Williams was enjoined from taking the Yankees job, or any other job in the big leagues, until after the expiration of his contract. However, during the middle of the 1974 season, the California Angels sought permission from Finley to hire Dick Williams and surprisingly Finley allowed the  Angels to hire Williams in mid-season. SLT was not around during the Finley era, but it is fun to think about how entertained we would have been back then. For now, without a Charley Finley to entertain us we'll have to settle for the fun of the ongoing NFL-NFLPA CBA fight.

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