Bernard Neistein, the prominent Chicago attorney, waved his ever-present cigar during a recent gathering of the B’nai B’rith Sports Lodge and asked: “Do you know Harry Danning?”
Of course. Catcher with the old New York Giants. They used to call him “Harry the Horse.” A very good hitter.
“I’m trying to help him,” said Neistein, who served 18 years in the Illinois legislature. “Here’s a guy who was in the Army, serving his country. He’s injured in the war (World War II). He gets out, the club tells him not to come back, and all these years he has been deprived of his pension.”
Neistein plunged the cigar back in his mouth. “You ought to look into it,” he said. “He’s not the only one.”
There are about 70 old-timers, average age in the mid-80s, who weren’t included in the majors’ beneficent pension and medical plan because of a technicality.
When the plan went into effect, there were two provisions: A player had to be active during the 1946 season or on the 1947 Opening Day roster.
Danning had a 10-year career, 1933 through 1942, when he went into the service. He was discharged after the 1945 baseball season.
For the last three years, John Puttock, 47, a California lawyer, has been lobbying the commissioner’s office and the Players Association in what thus far has been a futile effort for restitution.
“I’ve become a non-person,” Puttock explained earlier this week. “Nobody wants to talk to me. It’s a shame. There’s not much more I can do.”
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Puttock listed some of the players, all of whom played five or more years in the major leagues, the original vesting requirement, but for various reasons didn’t qualify:
Ace Adams, Eldon Auker, Frenchy Bordagaray, Mace Brown (who served up Gabby Hartnett’s famous “homer in the gloamin,’ ” Clay Bryant, Dolph Camilli, Pete Coscarart, Johnny Dickshot, Woody English, Lee Grissom, Buddy Hassett, Dario Lodigiani, Bobby Mattick, Gus Suhr, Eric Tipton, Jim Turner and Whitlow Wyatt.
During the All-Star Game last July in Philadelphia, acting commissioner Bud Selig indicated he was sympathetic and would discuss it during labor negotiations. According to a union official, it never was mentioned.
Gene Orza, counsel for the players’ union, has been quoted as saying: “I sympathize with them. But the current players have no duty to bargain over retired employees. And you can’t ask the players or the owners to give them charity. It seems unseemly.”
Union chief Don Fehr, at that time, indicated it was a knotty problem because the pension is underfunded.
This reporter is not an actuary, but according to the 1995 report on the players’ benefit fund, the total assets were $813 million–after all the ’95 claims had been satisfied. More than likely, the assets increase at twice the rate of the payouts, which means it soon will be $1 billion.
The fund is so fat that, in 1985, there was a significant rule change. Instead of 20 years of service for the maximum payment, it was reduced to 10 years. Since then, players at the age of 62 who earned more than $68,000 a year during any season have been rewarded with an annual pension that has varied between $90,000 and $100,000. Those who made less than $68,000 receive $79,000.
The NFL and NBA, confronted with an identical problem, have set aside millions of dollars for reparations. The baseball people should loosen up. If the estimated 70 old-timers were rewarded $2,000 a month, it wouldn’t even be a pimple on their pocketbook.
The average citizen, whose lifetime earnings don’t approach the one-year salary of a superstar athlete, has been so much more charitable it’s an embarrassment, Here’s another chance to prove it. Just fill out the coupon above. Contributions will be accepted gratefully by the Tribune Holiday Fund.