Man is a Free Agent

Man is a Free Agent For over a century, professional athletes in the United States were the exclusive property of the team that signed them first. In baseball, team owners called it the “reserve system” and they said it was essential for the good of the game. The players called it something else—they said it was “slavery.” In this episode of American Sport, we explore the battle between owners and players that culminated with the birth of free agency in the 1970s (someone, who shall remain anonymous, also urges LeBron James to leave the NBA and create his own pro basketball league). Bibliography: John Helyar, Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994). Marvin Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game: The Inside Story of the Baseball Revolution (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1991). Jon Pessah, The Game, Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball’s Power Brokers (New York, Boston, and London: Back Bay Books, 2015). Brad Snyder, A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood’s Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports (New York: Penguin, 2006).