Page 14-Thursday, July 9, 1981-The Michigan Daily
Free agency..
... An issue in baseball
From AP and UPI
NEW YORK-The chief negotiator for major league club owners testified today
that the free-agent system has been a boon to baseball and is here to stay.
Ray Grebey director of baseball's Player Relations Committee said there was no
attempt to do away with the free-agent system a part of which has led to the
current strike by major league players.
"FREE AGENTS ARE here to stay," he said. "They are a benefit to baseball. I
know some people in management don't share that opinion but there is no ntention
or desire to attack the system."
Grebey quoted Buzzy Bavasi Executive Vice President of the California Angels
as an example of management philosophy in the area of compensation.
"Buzzy Bavasi has said 'I don't care who I have to give up as long as I get the
player I want and I'll pay him whatever he wants,' " Grebey said.
COMMISSIONER BOWIE Kuhn's comment that baseball was in dire economic
straits was unauthorized by the owners' bargaining committee, the owners' chief
negotiator testified yesterday.
Ray Grebey, director of the owners' Player Relations Committee, said Kuhn was
speaking only for himself when he stated in December 1980 that inflated player
salaries threaten the game.
Meanwhile New York Yankees pitcher Tommy John said yesterday he feels the
major league players strike may be over within three days because of his boss
George Steinbrenner.
"I think George can do it," said John Wednesday of the Yankees' owner. "His
idea is close to what the players have been proposing since April.
"And I think that the other liberal owners-the guys like (the New York Mets'
Fred) Wilpon the Texas Rangers' Eddie Chiles the Baltimore Orioles' Edward
Bennett Williams-will follow and create a sort of momentum.
... An issue in hockey
TORONTO (AP)-The sticky problem of free-agent compensation which
precipitated the major league baseball strike will be discussed at a meeting today
between the National Hockey League's owner-player council and the players'
association.
"We think the league would be better off with total free agency," said Alan
Eagleson, executive director of the NHLPA.
NHL PRESIDENT John Ziegler countered "we're completely against total free
agency."
The combatants held their last round of talks last month in Las Vegas, Nev. with
the players serving notice of termination on the equalization portion of the current
collective bargaining agreement as of Sept. 15, 1982.
The current agreement was to end Sept. 15, 1984. But with both the owners and
players issuing termination notices the players are free to strike prior to the 1982-
83 season.
WHILE TOTAL free agency-a situation under which there would be no com-
pensation for a team losing a player-is Eagleson's goal he says there are
"fallback positions" the players could accept.
Their initial proposal, discussed more than a year ago calls for a graduated
system of compensation by draft choices based on a free agent's salary level
similar to that in the National Football League.
Under this format ifa team lost a player making more than $150,000 it would by
compensated by a first-round draft choice. If the player was in the $100,000-to-
$150,000 bracket compensation would be a second-round choice and if he made
$75,000-to-$100,000 it would be a third-round choice.
IF THE PLAYER was making less than $75,000 there would be no compensation.
"But we made that proposal last year," Eagleson says. "Now we need
something that will take into account the rate of inflation ... a built-in increase on
the salary brackets of 10to 15 percent a year."
But the owners believe a draft choice won't attract fans at the same rate as a
departed star.
"WHAT WE NEED is a bridge an agreement that can carry us over the next five
years," Ziegler said.
Neither side expects anything to be settled yesterday.
"We'll have another meeting in August another in September," Eagleson said.
"My feeling is we have to keep talking if we're going to accomplish anything."
... An issue in basketball
By the Associated Press
Compensation for free agents the issue that brought the 1981 major league
baseball season to a halt is nothing new to professional basketball. Matter of fact
it's ancient history.
The National Basketball Association had a compensation rule in effect for five
years. Players completing their contracts could switch teams but clubs signing
such free agents had to compensate these teams with player choices or cash. The
two teams were expected to negotiate such compensation between themselves. If
they couldn't it was set by NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien subject to judicial
review.
This summer as provided in the league's agreement with its Players
Association, that system was replaced by the right of first refusal whereby a team
can retain a free agent by matching the best offer he receives but gets no compen-
sation if it chooses not to match.
About a dozen veteran free agents switched teams each year the rule was in ef-
fect. In most cases the teams were able to agree on compensation themselves. Two
or three each year went to O'Brien. A couple of those-involving Marvin Webster
and Bill Walton-were challenged by the Players Association and became the sub-
jects of lengthy legal disputes.
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The newest golf fashion?
Professional golfer Fuzzy Zoeller sports a new hat, fashioned from balloons
as he hits a drive. Apparently, touring pros are starting to add spontaneity to
their bag of tricks as Jerry Pate dove into a nearby lake recently after win-
ning a tournament, thus ending a long "drought."
Cowboys sued for,
100 ml lion dollars
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A $100
million lawsuit has been filed by a nor-
thern California company against the
Dallas Cowboys charging the National
Football League team with pirating a
new training technique which it had
agreed to endorse.
The suit, filed in US. District Court
Tuesday by the firm of noted trial
lawyer Melvin Belli, alleges that the
Cowboys reneged on their promise to
endorse "SyberVision" in return for
trade secrets on how the technique
works.
SYBERVISION IS a system in which
an athlete watches video tapes of his
best performances in an attempt to
program muscle memory.
Attorney Bill Choulos, representing
the San Leandro firm of Professional
Development Associates, told a news
conference the program was offered to
the Cowboys in May on an exclusive
basis in return for their endorsement.
"They, in effect, took it, misap-
propriated it, used it and claimed it as
their own.It's as simple as that," said
Choulos.
"I BELIEVE it's true that we're
going to be able to show that they did
this deliberately and the law allows
punitive damages for doing such an
act," said Choulos.
Cowboys vice president Joe Bailey
said he had no comment on the suit,
which asks $25 million in damages and
$75 million in punitive damages.
Steve DeVore of Professional
Development Associates said the
Cowboys offered to give an endor-
sement of Syber Vision and that a
Dallas spokesman told him the endor-
sement would be worth "millions and
millions of dollars."
"The promise by the Cowboys was
that if we gave them the trade infor-
mation, they would go back and im-
plement it and we would get the
recognition," said DeVore.
"Two weeks later, we got a telephone
call from Texas that the
Cowboys ... had announced their new
training system and they put their1
name on it.."'
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