Major League Baseball collusion

Major League Baseball labor relations
Work stoppages
1972 strike  • 1973 lockout  • 1976 lockout 1980 strike  • 1981 strike  • 1985 strike 1990 lockout  • 1994–95 strike 2021–22 lockout
Topics
Collective Bargaining Agreement  • Collusion  • Reserve clause  • Seitz decision
People
Principal owners Commissioner of Baseball Major League Baseball Players Association Major League Baseball Umpires Association
Court cases
Federal Baseball Club v. National League (1922) Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc. (1953) Flood v. Kuhn (1972)
Baseball, Organized labor
v t e

Major League Baseball collusion refers to owners working together to avoid competitive bidding for player services or players jointly negotiating with team owners.

Collusion in baseball is formally defined in the Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement, which states "Players shall not act in concert with other Players and Clubs shall not act in concert with other Clubs."^[1] Major League Baseball went through a period of owner collusion during the off-seasons of 1985, 1986, and 1987.

Historically, owner collusion was often referred to as a "gentleman's agreement".^[2] After the 1918 season, owners released all their players – terminating the non-guaranteed contracts, with a "gentleman's agreement" not to sign each other's players, as a means of forcing down player salaries.^[3]