The most famous holdouts of my youth were Sandy Koufax and Don "set em up boys!" Drysdale. I was reminded of the way Sandy and Don teamed up to stick it to Walter O'Malley in the spring of 1966 when I chanced across a yellowing news clip from the Philadelphia Daily News the other day.
Baseball writer Stan Hochman was giving Koufax's side of the holdout. If you recall,most writers and fans were livid that a star like Koufax would dare to return his contract unsigned--and drag Drysdale into the mess. Sandy explained : "Don and I went into this thing with the realization that we were serious about it. We teamed up, because as long as I can remember, we were played off against each other."
Koufax waxed quite eloquently about the lopsided nature of contract negotiations. "Actually, there's no such thing as negotiations. You sign when the club reaches what it decides is the highest point it will go."
He also stressed that what he and Drysdale did was no big deal. "The reserve clause won't be abolished. Chaos would result."
In fact, the joint holdout was the first serious blow struck by players against the reserve clause. Had Koufax not retired after the 1966 season, he no doubt would have knocked more holes in it. As it was, Curt Flood took it outside the white lines of baseball in 1970 and into the legal arena. Although he benefitted little from his battle, the reserve clause was doomed.
And with it, the Spring Training Holdout vanished as well. Like the blockbuster trade, the Holdout was something we Cleveland fans learned to fear. Would The Rock refuse to sign this year? Or would Frank "Trader" Lane bully him into another parsiminous pact again? Men and boys alike (and some girls like my mom) opened the sports pages with trepidationin those days, as the annual drama played itself out in sunny Tucson.
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