Although the paper never said how he obtained them, The Buffalo Times said in 1905 that Chicago Cubs pitcher Herbert “Buttons” Briggs “is the possessor of some valuable old bombast documents in the way of contracts of the Chicago club players back in 1884…He also has a contract between the Chicago Baseball Association and Oscar Bielaski for the season of 1875.”
Buttons Briggs
The paper said of the 1875 contract:
“This contract is a simple one, and calls for the service of Bielaski for eight months, from March 15th to November 15th, at a salary of $1400. The player agrees to play for the Chicago club only and to obey all rules and regulations and “to refrain from any dissipation which may impair his physical condition.’”
Briggs also had the 1884 contract of Cap Anson, which the paper called:
Anson
“(A) weird and wonderful thing compared with the present day player’s contract. It consists of seven pages and twenty-three sections, and a ballplayer was forced to almost sign his life away in those days…Anson’s contract calls for $2500 for seven months services and is payable monthly…Nowadays the greenest youngster breaking in from the minor leagues wants, and usually gets, that much per season, while players of the present day who rank with Anson in his day get twice and three times that amount.”
The paper outlined other features of the contracts:
“In the 1884 contracts the team is never referred to as the club, but always as the ‘nine.’ Different sections of the contract provide for expulsion of the player if he be guilty of drunkenness, gambling in any form, insubordination, conspiring to lose and game, or be interested in any pool or wager on a game. This expulsion could be given without any notice. This section regarding injuries and illness reads as follows:
“It is understood and agreed that the said party of the second part (the player) assumes all risk of accident in play or otherwise, and of illness from whatever cause, and of the effects of all accidents, injuries, or illness occurring to him during the period of his employment.
“It is also required that when requested by the club a player must submit to an examination at the hands of the club’s physician, the player to pay for such examination.”
In addition to paying for their own medical examination, The Enquirer said:
“It was required that each player furnish himself at his own expense with a uniform designated by the club, the uniform to consist of two pairs of flannel pants, two flannel shirts, two pairs stockings, one pair leather shoes with spikes, one cap, one belt and one neck tie, ‘all of which during the whole of his term of employment, he is to keep in thorough repair and replenish as required, at his own expense; and he agrees to appear on the field at the beginning of each and every game in which he is to play in an entirely clean uniform, all cleaning of the same to be paid for by himself.’”
Finally, the paper said the “funniest” portion of the 1884 contract was the section that addressed road expenses:
“It reads as follows: ‘It is further agreed that while absent from Chicago with the ‘nine’ in other cities and while traveling with the ‘nine,’ the sum of fifty cents per day shall be deducted from the player’s wages on account of his board.’
“What a howl would go up from most of the present day players if they were asked to pay any part of their living expenses while on the road.”
Baseball History Daily 