THE HISTORY-MAKING SENATORS CATCHER W/O A MLB PENSION

Eighty-four-year-old Ken Retzer, of Sun City, Arizona, did a number of memorable things while he was a catcher during his career with the Washington Senators. He caught the first pitch of the 100,000th game played in Major League Baseball (MLB) history, which is on display in the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown, New York. He also caught President John F. Kennedy’s first Opening Day first pitch in 1961.

Statistically, his best season for the Senators was in 1962, when he came up to the plate 340 times and collected 97 hits, including eight homeruns, 11 doubles and two triples. He also drove in 37 runs that year while scoring 36 times. For his career, he reportedly threw out 48 of 126 base runners, which is a caught stealing rate of 38.1 percent. That’s positively Yadier Molina like.

 

Regrettably, he’ll have to hang his hat on those memories. Though Retzer was part of a generation of men who helped grow the game and usher in free agency, he is nonetheless one of the 641 retirees who do not receive a MLB pension for their playing time.

 

Retzer doesn’t receive a traditional pension for his time as a big league catcher because the rules for receiving MLB pensions changed in 1980. Retzer and the other men do not get pensions because they didn’t accrue four years of service credit. That was what ballplayers who played prior to 1979 needed to be eligible for one.

 

Instead, since April 2011, they have all been receiving what are referred to as nonqualified retirement payments.

 

For every quarter of service a man has accrued, which is defined as 43 game days of service on an active MLB roster, he gets $625.

And here’s the kicker — the payment they get cannot be passed on to a widow, loved one or other designated beneficiary. When the man passes, the payment passes with him.

By contrast, the maximum allowable pension a retired MLB player who is vested can make is $220,000.

The league – which does not have to address this matter unless the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) broaches it in collective bargaining negotiations — recently announced that its revenue was up 325 percent from 1992, and that it has made $500 million since 2015. What’s more, the average value of each of the 30 clubs is up 19 percent from 2016, to $1.54 billion. So the national pastime is in good shape financially.

 

The MLBPA has been loath to divvy up anymore of the collective pie. Even though Forbes recently reported that the current players’ pension and welfare fund is valued at $2.7 billion, MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark— the first former player ever to hold that position — has never commented about these non-vested retirees, many of whom are filing for bankruptcy at advanced ages, having banks foreclose on their homes and are so sickly and poor that they cannot afford adequate health care coverage.

Unions are supposed to help hard working women and men in this country get a fair shake in life. But the so-called MLBPA labor leader doesn’t seem to want to help anyone but himself — Clark receives a MLB pension AND an annual salary of more than $2.1 million, including benefits, for being the head of the union.

Now does that seem fair to you?

 

Douglas J. Gladstone is a freelance magazine writer who authored “A Bitter Cup of Coffee: How MLB & the Players’ Association Threw 874 Retirees a Curve.” His website is www.gladstonewriter.com