I won't bother re-hashing the "legalese" points I already raised in this thread about the parol evidence rule and the merger clause in the boilerplate "formal" printed contract.
I will say that, per the auction house description, this is the earliest known "incentive" contract in baseball, and possibly in all of professional sports. It also just so happens to involve Babe Ruth, Harry Frazee, and the 1918 Red Sox. If this doesn't strike you as not "smelling straight," then so be it.
I'll again note that the specter of WWI had seriously cut into team revenues, which came almost exclusively from gate receipts and concessions (this was of course even pre-radio). Spring training was shortened that year to save money. Many able-bodied men were either already in the military or about to be drafted (they took a lot of "older" people for WWI, my great grandfather was in his early 30s). It was certainly not expected to be a banner year.
I'd also like to know if Ruth ever negotiated a similar "incentive" contract when he went to the Yankees. Seems like hitting incentives would make more sense, since its an individual achievement over which the player himself has much more control vs. pitching "wins," which are a team effort and have a large element of luck involved re: run support, errors, which opposing pitchers you lock horns with, etc.
Thus, given the above, I'm sticking with my guns and calling this a forgery. Just way too many things about it don't make logical sense, and the "attic" provenance story we've all heard before. Remember Barry Halper and the Ollie O'Mara uniform tales? Per Mr. Halper the guy basically had more clothes/uniforms in his attic than a Modell's store! Of course it was all total BS, the old codger was penniless and Halper forged all the unis and basically just lied thru his teeth, even ripping off the HOF for a few million bucks on that 1919 Joe Jackson jersey that scientific testing proved was manufactured in the 1960s.
|