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1929 Jesse Haines St. Louis Cardinals Uniform Player Contract (JSA)
Hall of Famer Branch Rickey was the erudite Major League Baseball owner and executive whose signing and subsequent playing of Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers broke the modern baseball "Color Line." Jesse Haines was a Hall of Fame right-handed pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals (1920-37). Displayed is a 1929 Jesse Haines and Branch Rickey signed St. Louis Cardinal National League Player's Contract that was also signed by John Heydler, President of the National League. Rickey was a former Major League catcher, and he had trained as a lawyer. He developed multiple pennant winners and World Series Champions as an owner and/or executive with three franchises: St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Pittsburgh Pirates. The only Brooklyn Dodgers World Championship team, the 1955 club, was crafted by Rickey, who won multiple pennants with Brooklyn yet was running the Pittsburgh franchise when the Dodgers team that he largely built won the '55 World Series. Although Rickey was gone from the Pirates in 1955, he established, according to writer Andrew O'Toole, the core of the team - including Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Dick Groat, Vern Law, and Elroy Face - that won the 1960 World Series. With the St. Louis Cardinals, Rickey was the first executive to extensively develop a complex farm system that was owned or controlled by the Major League club. Haines, except for a very brief appearance in 1918 with the Cincinnati Reds, played his entire 18-year Major League career with the Cardinals. He was a key member of three Cardinals World Championship teams and had a lifetime Major League record of 210-158, with a 3.64 ERA. He was a 3-time winner of at least twenty games, and in the 1928 season before this contract was signed, he went 20-8, with a 3,18 ERA. He had a fiery demeanor when on the mound, acting, as writer Paul Doutrich stated, "as a raging bull." Off the mound, he was even-tempered, and in his later pitching years known as "Pop." The multi-signed contract measures 8.5x11" unfolded. Its four pages have been folded, and when folded into thirds, the contract measures 3.8x8.5". When folded, the front of the contract has been signed by Haines (who also wrote "Phillipsburg, Ohio" as his address and by NL President John Heydler. At the conclusion of the contract, Haines again writes his signature, and Branch Rickey, as a Vice President of the Cardinals, also signs his name. The contract is initially dated as January 15, 1929, and it was approved by Heydler on April 17, 1929. The contract calls for Haines to receive a yearly salary of $12,500. The contract is a Uniform Player's Contract. It contains a "Renewal Clause," sometimes referred to now as the "Reserve Clause," which gives the club the right to renew the contract for the next year. The contract exhibits some toning, and there are fold marks from the contract being folded into thirds for mailing. There is also some creasing and a few small areas of paper loss, or tiny tears, along an edge. Overall, the contract is in good condition. All the signatures were made with a steel-tip fountain pen, in black ink. The multi-signed contract comes with a full JSA LOA, Cert. Number: XX18325.
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