BASEBALL MONTHLY
April 1898
Reserve Clause Takes Over Baseball
There was no official announcement or evidence that something major changed in the national game this offseason. Still as the new season opened this month, word spread through the game that a new set of rules were created by the league owners that will have a huge impact of the game.
It is being called the 'reserve clause" and the details of this new system of player movement in the league was hammered out by the league oweners this offseason after a number of meetings. Owners througout the game were worried about escalating players salaries and player movement in the offseason. It was clear that all the leverage was controlled by the players up to this point with the higest bidder getting the services of the best players. Uder this new clause, teams will not bid on other team's players per an agreement and allow that player only to negotiate and sign with the team he is currently playing for. Owners were said to take a solem oath to keep this pledge in place in order to keep player salaries under control.
It was also said that such a clause will benefit fans as their favorite stars will stay in their cities playing ball for a long period of time building more of a fan loyalty. Player trades and waiver moves will still be part of the game, but owners have empored themselves to the point of almost owning their own players.
Unserstandably player reaction was poor. Many players openly admitted that they did not understand the new clause. Still others that did claim that their rights as individuals have been restrained. Some player even claimed to take things to litigation or quit the game all together. Still with the Major League as the only strong por league in the game, options are indeed limited.
It will be very interesting to see what happens as this clause is attempted to be put into place. There are many inside stories that have surfaced tp why such a clause really came to be. It is privately believed that the New York Giants, who have never won a pennant, were the most influencial proponent of the clause since they now have Honus Wagner on their roster. Wagner is one of the brigestest stars in the game and locking into New York in this way shoud give the team a huge advantage.
Honus Wagner
Teams did take the fieldf as normal in this opening month as salaries for players are still quite high compared to other jobs or labor in the nation.
| Rank | Player | Team | Salary | |
| 1 | John McGraw | Chicago | $4,296 | |
| 2 | George Davis | Cleveland | $3,816 | |
| 3 | George Treadway | Chicago | $3,532 | |
| 4 | Sam Thompson | Chicago | $3,171 | |
| 5 | Charlie Geggus | Chicago | $2,980 | |
| 6 | Nap Lajoie | St. Louis | $2,954 | |
| 7 | Kip Selbach | Cincinnati | $2,880 | |
| 8 | Sam Leever | New York | $2,795 | |
| 9 | Jimmy Bannon | Cincinnati | $2,608 | |
| 10 | Jesse Burkett | Boston | $2,584 | |
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League Notes Bob Allen, the 20 year old short stop for the St. Louis Browns will miss 5 weeks due to a bad ankle injury. Allen is a .270 career hitter.
The Tabasco Kid will miss some time in Brooklyn. Kid Elberfeld is gaining quite a lot of fans in the borrough of Brooklyn mainly for his hustle and enthusias on the field. Elberfeld tore his hamstring however while running for a fly ball and will miss at a minimum a month of action. The 23 year old was hitting .355 on the young season.
Charlie Geggus won his 250th game for this Orphans this month with a win over the Giants.