| Baseball's Biggest Blunder: The Bonus Rule of 1953-1957 Volume 6 Contributor(s): Kelley, Brent (Author) |
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ISBN: 0810830493 ISBN-13: 9780810830493 Publisher: Scarecrow Press OUR PRICE: $89.30 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 1996 Annotation: This book covers a previously ignored aspect of baseball history: the bonus rule of 1953-1957, which required players who signed a baseball contract for more than $4,000 to remain on the major league roster for two full seasons. These were the bonus babies. Very little has been published on this subject, and in most baseball histories it is mentioned only in passing. The bonus rule produced three members of the Baseball Hall of Fame (Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, and Sandy Koufax) and several other long-time performers. Yet it also ruined many potential careers as most of the young men signed under these conditions were not ready for the major leagues and sat on the bench for two years while their talents rusted. Gone, therefore, from professional baseball in two years or less were players like John Edelman, Bruce Swango, and Paul Martin. Kelley tells the story of the rule and the players involved, using research from the files of the National Baseball Library as well as interviews with many of the bonus babies themselves and other players, managers, and baseball executives of the day. The book also tells a brief history of bonuses and explains how this rule led to the free agent draft in effect today. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Sports & Recreation | Baseball - History - Political Science | Labor & Industrial Relations |
| Dewey: 331.281 |
| LCCN: 96030312 |
| Series: American Sports History |
| Physical Information: 0.79" H x 5.73" W x 8.77" (0.80 lbs) 256 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The "bonus rule" of 1953-1957 required players who signed a baseball contract for more than $4,000 to remain on the major league roster for two full seasons. These were the bonus babies--young men of about 18 or 19 years old, so full of promise and talent that they overshadowed their high school or collegiate teammates and had professional teams scrambling to sign them. This system produced three members of the Baseball Hall of Fame (Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, and Sandy Koufax) and several other long-time performers, but the "bonus rule" was also responsible for the destruction of many potential careers. In two years or less, professional baseball lost the likes of John Edelman, Bruce Swango, and Paul Martin. Kelley tells the story of the rule and the players involved, using the files of the National Baseball Library as well as interviews with many of the bonus babies themselves and other players, managers, and baseball executives of the day. He also provides a brief history of bonuses and explains how this rule led to the free agent draft in effect today. Photos. |