Why did McNally retire so young?

[Pheasants]

I read some time ago, do don't ask me where, that the Expos got the players mixed up and thought they were getting Bumbry. He and Coggins had split starts much of the previous year.

[Superbee83]

Little known fact about Dave Mcnally. His best friend in childhood and best man at his wedding was?Brent Musberger.

Roy, that's a cool fact.

Thanks for passing it along.

[csh_83]

It's a shame that Dave McNally developed arm problems when he did because a couple of more dominant years may have landed him in the Hall of Fame.

I noticed that pitchers who began their career with the Orioles in the early 60's developed arm problems. Wally Bunker and Steve Barber seem destined for great careers before arm problems and even Jim Palmer looked liked his career would be over with due to arm problems.

[DrungoHazewood]

It's a shame that Dave McNally developed arm problems when he did because a couple of more dominant years may have landed him in the Hall of Fame.

Maybe, because his win total would have put him in the Don Drysdale range. But his WAR totals (obviously wouldn't have had any impact on voting years ago) are well short. 25 rWAR, 33 fWAR. Two more very good years would have put him around 35-40. Which is typically where bad VC choices fall. The current low mark for a HOF starter in rWAR is Rube Marquard's 34.

[OFFNY]

OFFNY said:

o

 

After McNally was traded to the Expos prior to the 1975 season, he had a very sub-par year. He had nothing left in his arm, and decided to retire.

A much more interesting story came of McNally's retirement, though. At the time, the battle for free agency between Marvin Miller (and the Player's Union) and the owners was in full swing. Although Curt Flood lost his case in the Supreme Court back in 1971, it got the ball rolling. One year prior to McNally's retirement, Catfish Hunter was declared a free agent due to a violation in his contract by Athletics owner Charlie O. Finley.

The next year, Andy Messersmith wanted to test the free agent waters after pitching without a contract in '75. Marvin Miller wanted to use McNally as leverage in Messersmith's case, and asked him to declare himself a free agent, even though they both knew that McNally had no intention of pitching any longer. The G.M. of the Montreal Expos (Jim Fanning) was aware of McNally's situation, and Miller's desire to use him to help Messersmith (and subsequently ALL baseball players) with their case for free agency. Fanning literally  went to McNally's house ....... he claimed that he "just happened to be passing through Billings, Montana," and thought that he would come by to visit. Even though Fanning knew that McNally was finished as a pitcher, he offered him a guaranteed $50,000, and a trip to the Expos' training camp in Florida. Keep in mind that at that time, the minimum salary for a Major Leaguer was only $19,000, so the $50,000 guarantee was a lot of money. Plus, it would have essentially been an expense-paid vacation for McNally in sunny Florida.

Before signing anything, McNally called Marvin Miller and told him what Fanning had offered. As much as Miller needed McNally, he also felt badly about asking him to pass up a free $50,000, plus a trip to Florida in February. Miller left it up to McNally. McNally said, "If you need me, I'm here," and declined to take the money (and the expense-paid trip to Florida) that was offered to him. Messersmith and McNally were both subsequently declared free agents by Peter Seitz, opening the door for the boom (in free agency) that came the following offseason.

Hence, McNally (in my rat's ass of an opinion) chose integrity over easy money, and along with Curt Flood, Andy Messersmith, Catfish Hunter, and Marvin Miller, has subsequently gone down in history as one of the major players in the Player's Union's early fight (and victory) for free agency.

 

o

o

 

Happy birthday to Andy Messersmith, who was McNally's partner in that 1975-76 off-season in the completion of the breaking open the doors of free agency ........ doors that were previously being pushed and banged on by Curt Flood and Marvin Miller in 1970 and 1971, and Catfish Hunter in 1974.

 

o

[atomic]

Maybe it had nothing to do with his arm. I remember he had a month long episode of hiccups that year. So I looked it up. Article says he got hiccups starting June 1st that year and was hospitalized at Sinai and the hiccups ended June 30th. He also had a stomach ulcer. His last game was June 8th. He started season well. Maybe too much stress and poor health caused him to retire.