Koufax–Drysdale holdout
1966 holdout staged by Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale against the Los Angeles Dodgers / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Prior to the 1966 Major League Baseball season, from February 28 to March 30, future Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, star pitchers for the Los Angeles Dodgers, staged a joint holdout in which the pair demanded a fair negotiation and better contract terms from their team's front office.
Just before spring training 1966, Koufax and Drysdale made a joint decision to hold out. Koufax, the leader during the holdout, already had previous negotiation difficulties with the Dodgers and was tired of being used against his teammates, particularly Drysdale. After learning that Buzzie Bavasi, the general manager of the Dodgers, had used the same tactic with Drysdale, the pair hired Koufax's business manager, J. William Hayes, as their agent and told the Dodgers they would negotiate only through him.
The Dodgers engaged in a publicity war against Koufax and Drysdale, attempting to divide them or paint them as greedy and selfish. Meanwhile, the pitchers took advice from Hayes and did not engage with the press. Hayes, meanwhile, prepared for a lawsuit challenging the reserve clause based on an old California case law. The possibility of such a lawsuit reportedly unnerved the Dodgers' front office who soften their stance. Within the pair, Drysdale also felt he could not holdout indefinitely. Hence, after thirty-two days, the holdout came to an end.
The joint holdout was the first significant event in baseball's labor movement and the first time major league players had challenged the absolute stronghold the owners held in baseball in the era before free agency. While their initial demands were not met, both received a bigger-than-before salary raise, making Koufax and Drysdale the first $100,000 pitchers, with Koufax being the highest paid player during the 1966 season.