Expert: Tom Schott - 12/12/2008

Question
Is there a way to find details of how major league ball players were signed in the days before teams had official minor league affiliates? I know my home team, the chicago white sox, had a disproportionate number of players from the pacific coast league in the 1910's, 20's and 30's. Baseballreference.com has the date of all major league debuts but how did they get there? There are no details of their transaction to the major leagues.

Answer
Michael,

A good question. In the days before free agency, ball players were like property, meat. They were bought and sold like any other commodity. In accordance with the "reserve clause" which was operative in both the major and minor leagues, a player under contract to a team could not break that contract without severe penalties. So when a player came up to the majors from a minor league team, it was because the major league team had purchased his contract at whatever price the minor league team put on him. The Pittsburgh Pirates, for example, paid $40,000 in 1926 to buy Paul Waner from the San Francisco Seals. Or the player was signed directly into the majors. That was the only two ways. By the way, the Pacific Coast League was probably the strongest minor league in the country during the time you mention. It's not unusual that it provided many major league players.