A Valentine's Appeal to Tony Clark, Executive Director, Major League Baseball Players' Association

Read Time:2 Minute, 32 Second

Mr. Clark,

Well, it’s happened again. I just learned that another of the pre-1980 players without pensions, George Spriggs, recently passed away. He was 83-years-od at the time of his death.

So like The Queen song says, another one bites the dust. That makes 525 men left.

When do you say enough is enough? When do you show the compassion, graciousness, and moral decency that you heretofore haven’t exhibited?

Your predecessor, the late Michael Weiner, stepped up to the plate in 2011 and helped these men. He told a nationwide CBS News Radio audience in an interview that he was going to help because of “the vicissitudes of life.”

When do you follow in his footsteps?

I have often wondered why you’re letting each of these men die off without lifting a finger to assist them or their spouses or loved ones.

Maybe you’re one of those people who hesitate to help due to what psychologist Dr. Bobby Hoffman, as associate professor at the University of Central Florida, refers to as “the bystander effect.” Namely, you’re less likely to assist someone because you think others will help the person and you’re not needed.

Of course, you and I know that is not the case. Because Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB aren’t required to negotiate about this matter, the players’ association has to introduce the subject in collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations. So you are definitely needed.

According to Dr. Hoffman, much of the research on helping also suggests that many altruistic behaviors such as donating money or sharing our personal resources are motivated by self-interest, how we see ourselves in relation to others, or an external standard of personal accountability. In a nutshell, we tend to help others who we think are like us.

All these men are like you. They played at the highest level of the sport. Don’t you think you should be more empathetic to their plight? It wasn’t their fault that Marvin Miller, Don Fehr, Sal Bando, and Steve Rogers threw them under a bus by not retroactively including them in the vesting rules agreement with the league that was brokered during the 1980 Memorial Day Weekend.

One of the things I’ve often wanted to ask you is the following: can you put yourself in the shoes of these men? Imagine, if you would, that you’re one of these retirees, and you have to tell your wife Frances, and your children Aeneas, Jazzin, and Kiara, that the head of the players’ association doesn’t want your spouse or kids to have anymore monies after you kick the bucket?

So do the right thing. It can be your early Valentine’s Day gift to all these old timers. I know that, rather than a box of chocolates, they’d all love to receive more monies.

Hopefully,

Douglas J. Gladstone

Douglas J. Gladstone authored the 2011 book, “A Bitter Cup of Coffee; How MLB & The Players Association Threw 874 Retirees a Curve.”