Former Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves right handed pitcher Andy Messersmith, one of two players who has changed baseball forever, hopes to break into the Yankees' starting rotation this season. Messersmith is coming off an injury plagued 1977 with the Atlanta Braves in which he appeared in only 16 games, winning 5 and losing 4. He was acquired by the Yankees from the Braves for $100,000 this past December.
Messersmith and Dave McNally tested baseball's infamous reserve clause by playing the entire 1975 season without having signed contracts in their option year. The two rebels contended that the option clause in their contracts bound them to their team for only the option year, after which they would become free agents. The owners' position was that the reserve clause was automatically and perpetually renewed. Arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in favor of the players, changing baseball forever.
Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner, who marches to his own tune, sometimes one only he can hear, almost signed Messersmith as a free agent two years ago. When Messersmith became available, the Yankees signed him despite his groundbreaking activities.
Messersmith made his first appearance tonight against the Orioles, pitching three effective innings, allowing only a Lee May home run as the Yankees rallied with two runs in the ninth for a 6-5 victory. Messersmith said that he felt a little awkward after missing so much time last season but that he felt good despite some expected pain. Braves' manager Bobby Cox and former Yankees' third baseman, who was on hand for the game, was surprised that Messersmith has returned so soon, but Cox went on to say that Messersmith was such a competitor that when he joins a championship team, the adrenaline starts flowing.
It will be difficult for Messersmith to break into the Yankees' starting rotation, but stranger things have happened. The defection of World Series hero Mike Torrez to Boston can only help Messersmith's chances.
COMMENTS:
Messersmith never came back. He injured his shoulder at the end of spring training and appeared in only six games for the Yankees in 1978. The Yankees released him in November, but Messersmith's significance was that he was a major factor in changing the face of the game.
Arbitrator Peter Seitz's ruled that the reserve clause in a player's contract is NOT automatically and perpetually renewed. When Messersmith and Dave McNally played their option year without signing a contract, they became free agents after the season. The FLOOD gates were opened, changing the game forever.
