2. SCENARIO James Kason is an outfielder for the Oakland Athletics. In the contract that he signed, Kason is prohibited from performing dangerous activities….
3. SCENARIO Kason is with his family on vacation and runs into his college roommate also a baseball player. The roommate and his manager invites him to throw the “first pitch at a minor league game…”
4. SCENARIO Because Kason did not stretch out, he dislocates his shoulder which resulted in missing the first 35 games of the season for the A’s
greekshares.com – Kason’s contract states, “player shall not play baseball for any other team during the off-season nor shall the player engage in any of the following activities during the off-season, including but not limited to football…baseball, softball, lacrosse, bowling, horseback riding, car racing, parachuting, baseball, ice hockey, track and field activities, table tennis, tennis, polo, karate, cricket, badminton or any form of martial arts.
Does the team have any legal right to terminate the player’s contract?
No they do not. For example, the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association attempted to suspend without pay Michael Sojourner because he broke his kneecap while performing a “slam dunk” during the offseason. Sojourner was practicing at the time and the court deemed that slam-dunking in practice was not deemed a dangerous activity. law.columbia.edu
Some of you may know this example, Aaron Boone faced a similar situation when he injured himself playing pick-up basketball while under contract for the New York Yankees. Did Boone get his contract terminated? mlb.mlb.com
Pick-up basketball WAS on of the banned activities he could not do in the offseason.
opus-photography.netHow can a player defend himself against a suit like this? In Kason’s case, he was there to promote the game of baseball. He received a kind gesture from a minor league affiliate to throw out the first pitch. We all throw things, whether it is a crinkled piece of paper or throwing bags of leaves. Kason isn’t going to wrap himself in bubble wrap and sit on his couch, he is going to be doing activities…he could have been playing golf and injured himself. As long as he did not throw 90+ heat for the opening pitch, it is a freak accident. Kind of like slipping in the bathtub or breaking a finger in a car door. However if this injury plagues him then the team has the right to terminate his contract.
smoothtransitionslawblog.comIn arbitration how would this pan out? The player should be ok. Next time, it will be stressed to stretch out before throwing a baseball to either his family or doing a public event at a minor league baseball game. As long as he stays away from hazardous activities, then Kason should be alright and will not lose anything in arbitration.