New Book Exposes Baseball Pension Scandal

(With a foreword written by the Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, Dave Marash, Douglas J. Gladstone's soon-to-be released book, A Bitter Cup of Coffee; How MLB & The Players Association Threw 874 Retirees A Curve,  tells the true story of a group of former big-league ballplayers denied pensions as a result of the failure of both the league and the union to retroactively amend the vesting requirement change that granted instant pension eligibility in 1980. Previously, the vesting requirement was four years. The following excerpt from the book was especially adapted just for readers of The Bleacher Report.)

A resident of Sharpsburg, Ga., Bob Sadowski is a self-described member of baseball’s old guard. “I’m not a baseball fan anymore,” he tells a caller. “Not because I’m not getting a pension, but because the players are different these days.”

Asked to elaborate, the 71-year-old former hurler, who compiled a won-loss record of 20-27 and an ERA of 3.87 over his career, says that, when he played, he was happy to sign bubble gum cards for free.

Today’s players, he points out, command “ridiculous amounts of money for their autographs."

“Was I really going to charge someone for my signature?” he asks. “Was I going to force some mother or father to tell their son or daughter that they couldn’t afford my price?  Of course not.  I was upholding the goodness of the game, and I didn’t need to be paid for that.”

One time, Sadowski says he even returned a $10 check to a father in Evanston, Ill., who was seeking his signature for his son.

“I looked this fellow up in the phone book and called the guy and he couldn’t believe it,” he says, proudly. “He said, ‘Mr. Sadowski, what an honor.’ And I said, Mister, I’m the one who should be honored that you thought so much of me to want my autograph for your boy. That’s payment enough for me. And he says, ‘But I already sent you a check.’ And I told him I had already sent it back.”

“It was the same when we went to senior citizen homes or children’s hospitals,” Sadowski continues. “I didn’t get paid for doing those things, I did them because I was promoting baseball and it was the right thing to do.”

Asked if giving a pension to men such as himself is the right thing to do, Sadowski diplomatically answers that it’s not for him to say.

However, he does volunteer that, given his assorted list of ailments, he could always use some more money to help defray expenses.

Time has not been good to the 6 foot 4 inch righthander, whose wife passed away 25 years ago. He adds that, shortly after his loss, he suffered kidney failure.

“I was on a dialysis machine, but I didn’t like being hooked up to it,” he recalls. “Fortunately, one day I woke up and my appetite returned. The doctors said it was a miracle.”

A year later, Sadowski says he suffered a stroke that not only impacted his speech (he is still apt to slur his words) but limited the mobility in his right arm and legs.  Because he says he is also arthritic, he subsequently underwent two knee operations.

Sadowski says he is sometimes prone to feeling sorry for himself, and concedes he doesn’t know where he’d be if it weren’t for his fiancée, who has acted as his primary caregiver for years.

“I realize I’m never going to be the way I was before, when I was in my prime,” he says. “But I’m a hard-headed guy, and I had a heck of a career. If we get any money, that would help me out a lot.”

Guys like Kenneth Wright could also benefit from a pension. Originally signed by the Boston Red Sox as a free agent in the 1964 amateur draft, Wright debuted with the Kansas City Royals in April 1970. 

With a won-loss record of 11-15 and a 4.54 ERA under his belt, the righthanded hurler ended his career almost four years later as a member of the New York Yankees.

Nearly three decades later, at the age of 63, Wright could be found working two jobs just to make ends meet.

A courier for a local hospital, the Pensacola, Fla., resident has also for the past 15 years managed the Warrington Emergency Aid Center, which distributes food and clothing for the needy.

Though his plight isn’t as bad as those he serves on a daily basis, Wright admits he needs a pension just the same. Afflicted with Type 2 diabetes, Wright says he suffers from diabetic ulcers on his feet.

Consequently, when Wright on June 5, 2008 wrote a letter to Commissioner Bud Selig, in which he asked for information about whether or not he and the other non-vested players would ever receive pension benefits, it wasn’t Selig who replied to him, but rather Rob Manfred, the league's executive vice-president for labor relations and human resources.

“As you are probably aware,” the baseball executive indicated in his June 30, 2008 response to Wright, “player pensions are a subject of collective bargaining with the players association. While, at various times, there have been conversations about pensions benefits for non-vested players, those conversations have not progressed to the point that I could not even attempt to respond with any specificity to your inquiries. In fact, you should not make any decision, financial or otherwise, based on the assumption that benefits will be forthcoming from the Major League Baseball Players Benefit Plan.”

(Adapted from the book, A Bitter Cup of Coffee, How MLB & The Players Association Threw 874 Retirees A Curve , which is to be released on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 by Word Association Publishers. To order, please call the publisher directly at [phone].)