Monte Ward - New York and Reserve Clause

New York and Reserve Clause

Ward moved to the New York Gothams (renamed the Giants in 1885) in 1883. An injury to his right arm while running the bases during the 1884 season ended Ward's pitching career. As he could not wait for his arm to heal before he returned to the field, so he taught himself to throw left-handed in order to play center field for the remainder of the 1884 season. He replaced Jim Price as the Giants' manager for the final 16 games of the 1884 season.

With his arm fully recuperated, he became the every day shortstop in 1885.

Ward graduated from Columbia Law School in 1885 and led the players in forming the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, the first sports labor union. Ward and the players had become frustrated with the owners reserve clause, which allowed them to sign players to one year contracts and then not allow them to negotiate with other teams when those contracts expired. The players felt that the owners had absolute power. At first, the players had some success, gaining the freedom to negotiate with other teams when they were asked to take a pay cut by their current team. In October 1887, Ward married actress Helen Dauvray.

In 1888, after the Giants had finished first in the National League, and had won a playoff series known today as a "World Series". They played the St. Louis Browns of the American Association for the "Dauvray Cup", which was named after Ward's wife. The team never actually received the trophy as it was stolen and its whereabouts are still unknown. Ward and a group of All Stars then headed off on a barnstorming world tour. The owners held their winter meetings, and created a classification system that would determine a player's salary. Under the system the most a player could earn was $2,500. The Giants then sold Ward to the Washington Nationals for a record price of $12,000. Ward was furious and left the tour early. He then demanded a meeting with the owners, and said he would refuse to play for Washington unless he received a large portion of his record sale price. Washington would eventually refuse payment on the transaction, nullifying the deal.

The owners denied Ward's request for a meeting to discuss the new classification system, saying there would be no talks until after the upcoming season. Though Ward and the union fought hard for these issues, this did not distract him or his Giants team as he hit .299 and helped the Giants capture their second straight "World Series" title in 1889.