1901-02

[LoneRhino]

In 1901-02 the National League had the reserve clause but the American League didn't honor that and signed NL players. Is there an way to replicate that in OOTP?

Also, if I have free agency and the NL and AL are separate leagues (not sub leagues), will the sign each others free agents?

[Syd Thrift]

I don’t think there is to be honest. You can set the reserve clause for either league but if a league has it on, all players in it will be bound and unable to jump.

Generally speaking, the further back you go from the modern era, the more tweaking and full control you’ll need to do to get things to work out like they did during that time period. The game does okay with the on field product back then but yeah it doesn’t really know how to deal with no affiliated minor leagues, much less guys jumping contracts willy nilly to join a rival league.

[BaseballReplayJournal]

I'm not convinced that it's accurate to say that the National League actually had the reserve clause in 1901 and 1902.


The National Agreement was basically thrown out the window when the American League declared itself a major league right before the 1901 season. Players were more or less free to sell their services to the highest bidders, and they acted accordingly.


You can see that the National League did not respect any sort of "reserve clause" among American League teams by the actions of National League teams. It's not true that the players only went one way. There were some players who went back to the National League for more money — though it is true that there weren't a whole ton of guys who went that way.


And, of course, John McGraw and over half the Baltimore Orioles famously joined the New York Giants late into the 1902 season, which nearly ended the American League as quickly as it started.


I'm really interested in this period, and have written a few articles on the subject:

• The Forgotten League, about the 1900 American League season — as well as more arguments about why the 1900 American League should be considered a major league
• Lessons learned on starting a new major league from Ban Johnson
• A piece on the Foul Strike Rule, which was different in both leagues
• A bit on the Match Made In Hell between Ban Johnson and John McGraw
• And an ongoing project on the jumpers before the 1901 season.

It's fun to look back into this, and the old newspapers tell a lot more than I once thought.

[LoneRhino]

Originally Posted by BaseballReplayJournal

I'm not convinced that it's accurate to say that the National League actually had the reserve clause in 1901 and 1902.


The National Agreement was basically thrown out the window when the American League declared itself a major league right before the 1901 season. Players were more or less free to sell their services to the highest bidders, and they acted accordingly.


You can see that the National League did not respect any sort of "reserve clause" among American League teams by the actions of National League teams. It's not true that the players only went one way. There were some players who went back to the National League for more money — though it is true that there weren't a whole ton of guys who went that way.


And, of course, John McGraw and over half the Baltimore Orioles famously joined the New York Giants late into the 1902 season, which nearly ended the American League as quickly as it started.


I'm really interested in this period, and have written a few articles on the subject:

• The Forgotten League, about the 1900 American League season — as well as more arguments about why the 1900 American League should be considered a major league
• Lessons learned on starting a new major league from Ban Johnson
• A piece on the Foul Strike Rule, which was different in both leagues
• A bit on the Match Made In Hell between Ban Johnson and John McGraw
• And an ongoing project on the jumpers before the 1901 season.

It's fun to look back into this, and the old newspapers tell a lot more than I once thought.

Thanks, I'm going to check out those articles. I meant that the NL had the reserve clause in the sense that they didn't sign players from other NL teams.

In game, I was just looking to see if the concept would work over all. I'm new to OOTP although I played Strat-o-matic and other board games for years. I'm mostly looking into crazy ideas that i'm having for different leagues.

[BaseballReplayJournal]

Yeah — the American League also didn't sign other AL clubs.

It's been years since I last read it, but I recall Norman Macht mentioning that the concept of "club ownership" itself was really sketchy in the early days of the American League. That really shows when you look at how Johnson borrowed players from other teams to ensure the Orioles were able to finish the season in 1902. That's in the first volume of that great three volume work on Connie Mack.

I'm fascinated with that period. I honestly think that the National League would have folded had John McGraw not gone to the Giants.