Dick Moss, Who Helped Usher In Baseball Free Agency, Dies at 93

Sports|Dick Moss, Who Helped Usher In Baseball Free Agency, Dies astatine 93

Dick Moss, a labour lawyer who, pinch Marvin Miller, nan powerful leader of nan national that represents shot players, group nan shape for nan sport’s free agency revolution, died connected Saturday successful Santa Monica, Calif. He was 93.

His death, astatine an assisted surviving facility, was confirmed by his girl Nancy Moss Ephron.

Moss joined nan Major League Baseball Players Association successful 1967 arsenic wide counsel aft serving arsenic subordinate wide counsel for nan United Steelworkers of America, wherever he had worked pinch Miller, nan union’s main economist. With nan players association, nan 2 men would return yearly trips to outpouring training to amended nan athletes astir trade-union thinking.

In 1968, nan national negotiated nan first collective-bargaining statement successful baseball, and 2 years later, players gained nan correct to aerial grievances earlier an arbitrator.

But nan union’s beatified grail — getting free of nan reserve clause, which bound players to teams unless they were traded aliases released aliases their contracts were sold — would return much time.

Moss worked intimately pinch Curt Flood, nan awesome outfielder for nan St. Louis Cardinals, who challenged nan reserve clause by refusing to study to nan Philadelphia Phillies erstwhile nan Cardinals traded him aft nan 1969 season. He sued for his state successful national court.

But he mislaid astatine each level, including successful nan United States Supreme Court, wherever his lawsuit was based on by Arthur J. Goldberg, who had stepped down arsenic an subordinate justness of nan tribunal to go nan U.S. ambassador to nan United Nations.