There are 874 pre-1980 Major League Baseball players that don’t receive a pensionand Douglas Gladstone is trying to do something about it.
Gladstone works at the state but has always dappled in writing, contributing to various e-zines and seeing his words published in national newspapers. But this is the first time he’s seen an entire bookall 194 pages of it`filled with his thoughts, research and what he hopes will be policy-changing revelations.
What Gladstone lays out in `A Bitter Cup of Coffee,` is decades of changed retirement requirements that left many ballplayers without their just dues because the league failed to retroactively amend the vesting requirement. In 1947, a pension fund was established and players needed five years to vest, or be entitled to a pension. In 1969, that eligibility was lowered to four years and then in 1980 that was further lowered to what it is now, which is one game to receive medical benefits and 43 days of service credit. Players can sit on the bench their entire career, as long as they remain on an active roster. That means players from the early years may have met these new requirements back in the day, but still aren’t eligible under the changes.
`When I heard about that and the union and league’s failure, I was outraged and shocked. I thought it was a terrible injustice,` said Gladstone. `I’m the type of person who likes to help people and I think the reason why this resonated with me is because I’m a baseball fan, first and foremost, but also it’s gone largely unreported by mainstream media and I thought it would be a great opportunity to write a book that would shine a spotlight on the issue so people could get righteously indignant.`
For nearly a year, Gladstone followed a tiresome routine: come home from work, eat as a family, put his 7-month-old daughter to bed and spend until midnight researching, calling players, union and league, and writing. He ended up with a book of profiles chronicling the struggles of at least 30 jilted players, now retired and sprinkled across the country holding any number of working class jobs.
`When I finally delivered the manuscript I felt the weight of the world was off my shoulders,` said Gladstone, who self-published the book in mid-April.
Uncovering a controversial issue was not only morally satisfying for Gladstone, it also fulfilled a version of every sports fans’ dream.
`These were the ballplayers of my youth and it was really a treat to talk to and be on a first name basis [with them] and a friend to so many ballplayers I watched growing up,` said Gladstone. `I’m going out to one of their homes this August and he’s going to teach me how to shoot quail.`
Gladstone said he’ll always remember when the magnitude of his quest for justice hit home.
`I was watching the 1969 National Championship on ESPN Classic with my wife and I started jumping up and down screaming at the top my lungs ‘that’s the guy I was just talking to!’` said Gladsone.
He’s already gotten feedback from players who were unaware anything was amiss.
`A Hall of Famer who had no idea this was occurring, he was a players rep during ’70s, called me last night and said ‘this is an outrage, I didn’t know about this but I want to help you, I want to help get this issue in the public eye,’` said Gladstone.
Getting the public to take notice will start, he hopes, with a catchy title. `A Bitter Cup of Coffee` is a phrase in the MLB that’s been around more than 100 years. It refers to a brief duration when people were called up from the minor leagues for just one month in September to play a game and affected about 17,000 men since 1980, making them eligible for a full pension.
`What a sweetheart deal for all these men. The opposite of sweet is sour, which I connote bitter. This whole situation has left a foul and sour taste in the mouth of many people, not just the 874 affected players,` said Gladstone.
Besides setting an example for his daughter`reaching for a dream and returning to his trained journalism roots to compose this expose`Gladstone said he wants people who read the book to become angry and recognize an injustice.
`The average salary these days is $3.7 million for a player. But these guys paved the way for current players to demand what they do,` said Gladstone. `It’s important for them to know they should be giving back to these guys who have been beset by a lot of adversary issues, some have been homeless or defaulted on mortgages, every sob story you can imagine.`
The book tour will start on Friday, May 21, at the Open Door Bookstore and continue through Oneonta, West Virginia, Chicago, Denver and more. A full list of where `A Bitter Cup of Coffee` is available is on www.abittercupofcoffee.com.
“