Baseball players can leave

For a century a club could renew a player’s contract forever. Curt Flood had sued and lost. In 1975 Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally play without signing. Arbitrator Peter Seitz rules they are free. The reserve clause, as baseball knew it, is finished.

Owners lock doors and predict ruin. Players get agents, multi-year deals, and the right to pick a city. Competitive balance becomes an argument instead of a given. The Yankees and everyone else learn a new market.

Every later CBA fight is a sequel. Seitz did not invent greed. He invented the exit.