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That depends in part on what kind of reserve clause the players and owners agree to. The players have proposed free agency after six years in the majors. The owners say that would not give them enough return on their investments in the minor-league training of players. (The Yankees claim they spend $1.4 million a year on their four-team farm system, which develops about three major leaguers annually.) According to Marvin Miller, chief negotiator for the players, "The owners know they've not been spending their player-development money efficiently. There should have been a pool arrangement a long time ago, a league where the players are supported by major-league baseball, not the individual clubs, and from which they can then be drafted."
Owners also worry that free agents will roam from team to team and fans will cease to identify with athletes. But every year owners themselves shuffle 100 or so of the 600 major leaguers from team to team in trades. Indeed, they rarely hesitate to move whole teams when it suits their fancy or tax returns; witness the Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves or the Philadelphia-Kansas City-Oakland A's.
Another concern is that the richest teams will corner all the talent. The Yankees have never hesitated to try. They went for Messersmith, yearn for Jackson and came up with a true free-agent plum when they signed Hunter. But Hunter argues against any such monopoly thesis.
"Ballplayers don't want to go with a team that has all the talent," says Hunter. "They wouldn't play every day. They want to go to the team that needs help. I made it to the bigs much sooner because I signed with Kansas City. And one club couldn't buy all that many stars. There is no way they could afford such a payroll."
Marvin Miller believes that only 15 or so free agents would switch teams in a given year, "not the hundreds the owners claim. The superstars won't be the ones who will move. A superstar has far more attachment to his team's city than people realize. He's got a home, a wife, kids, and probably business interests in the city. He doesn't want to move just for a few more bucks. It's the utility player sitting behind a Johnny Bench who wants to move. And the minor-league guy who'd be in the majors if his club weren't so strong at his position. Having the right to become a free agent will be more important than actually using the right. Not just to get more money from your club, but to make management pay more attention to the basic standards of decency and human dignity."