Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlton
A pay raise extension. If you have Mickey Mantle and he becomes the #1 player, even though his 1st 2 years are ok not eye opening. The team should raise his pay and give him a guaranteed extension. Ty Cobb had 2, one in 1915 and in 1923 IIRC.
|
Multi-year contracts were rare. Only about 5% of contracts were multi-year; about the same percentage were guaranteed.
And, really, this makes sense. Since the club had the right to unilaterally renew the contract each year, at whatever salary it deemed reasonable, only the biggest of star players had any sort of negotiating leverage where they could get a multi-year deal or guaranteed deal.
What may need to be added is more bonus clauses. While these days bonus clauses are rather limited in what they can offer, in earlier days direct performance bonus clauses were allowed. For example, a pitcher could receive a bonus upon reaching a certain number of wins. Bonuses were also given for the club reaching a given attendance level, or for a certain position of finish.