[jksander]

Home in San Francisco, Dominic [DiMaggio] had been having some practical thoughts besides the philosophical ones. He also looked forward to being back with his core teammates, but after returning from the fight to defeat the Evil Axis, he wanted to fight for the rights of players -- starting with himself. Decades before it became official in baseball, Dominic, after discussing his position with [his financial manager and brother] Tom, declared himself a free agent.

He wrote a letter to the Red Sox brass explaining that after spending three years in military service and not signing any baseball contracts, he didn’t belong to anyone.

- Tom Clavin, The DiMaggios, p. 255

What if, after World War II, the owners of Major League teams had decided to eliminate the Reserve Clause and start a rudimentary form of free agency? The idea doesn’t seem far fetched based on how Dominic DiMaggio reacted to returning to the Boston Red Sox. According to Clavin’s excellent biography The DiMaggios, Dom’s holding out wound up getting him the concession of an increased salary with the addition of benchmarks for raises based on team attendance, something that had never been given to a player. Though he became a leader in the “Player’s Union” movement, his postwar move simply didn’t draw in the other players who were also returning from the War ... but what if it had?

I’m starting this dynasty write-up based on the assumption that, following the end of WWII in September of 1945, the owners of teams in both the National League and American League met during winter meetings and agreed to a new system, voluntarily abolishing the reserve clause. In its place, they voted in a system where a player, having reached 10 full years of service time, could apply to become a full free agent, establishing an arbitration system that would kick in after five years of service. Minor league players would also earn free agency after the same 10-year service period. This system would allow veteran players to at least get one opportunity to “choose his destiny,” while preventing teams from having to massively shake up their rosters constantly as soon as players emerged as stars.

The owners agreed that, starting after the 1946 season a rookie draft would take place, replacing the “bonus baby” free-for-all that existed at the time. Once a team drafted a player, that player would be theirs until such time as he reached his 10 years of full service, and would remain on a rookie scale contract until reaching arbitration after five years. This compromise kept owners happy with a system still heavily weighted in their favor, while giving players returning from defending their country a sense that they too had some control over where their careers would take them.

The game has a few “top prospects” still unassigned as of March 17, 1946, and I’ve chosen to assign them to the real life teams they debuted on. So Bobby Avila will go to Cleveland, Whitey Lockman will go to the Giants and Joe Nuxhall will go to the Reds. Journeymen like Luis Olmo, Nap Reyes and Arky Vaughn, who did not play for a MLB team in 1946 and who are all 26 or older, will remain free agents, to be signed by teams as they see fit.

So what does this mean for teams heading into 1946, you might ask ... who all will be eligible for free agency in the ’46 offseason should their teams not sign them? Short answer ... not a whole lot. But here’s a list of players of 3.5-star status or better (100% accuracy, scouting off) who will be negotiating for their long term futures:

Brooklyn Dodgers: 1B Augie Galan, RF Dixie Walker, 2B Billy Herman
Chicago Cubs: LF Phil Cavarretta
Chicago White Sox: SS Luke Appling
Detroit Tigers: 1B Hank Greenberg
New York Giants: C Ernie Lombardi, RF Mel Ott
Philadelphia Phillies: 1B Frank McCormick
Washington Senators: LF Jeff Heath

That’s ten players to keep an eye on as we go through the first season of this new experiment, with the knowledge that teams will have to keep an eye on their other veterans if they want to attempt to stave off future major free agency exodus in the future. That will be especially important since there will be no compensation for lost players ... it’s up to owners to decide how much they value keeping a core together.