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After going to Mexico to earn more money in the off-season, Danny Gardella came under attack from commissioner Happy Chandler who felt the move was a threat to baseball’s reserve clause. Chandler banned Gardella and his fellow Mexican Leaguers who left the big leagues because they could get more money playing in Mexico. In this letter Gardella writes in part, “Cheap and monopolistic Happy Chandler banished all players (who) went to Mexico and I asked Fred Johnson to represent me in court and the reserve clause became infamous and the great American game tried to make proper changes like unions to shape the modern player.”

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A reflective Gardella continues, “I hope I have been good for baseball…” One of the earliest players to train with weights, Gadella was also known for his ability to walk on his hands and perform acrobatic stunts. In three Major League seasons, Gardella played 169 games and hit .267 with 24 home runs and 85 runs batted in.

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In 1946, Major League players Danny Gardella, Sal Maglie, Alex Carrasquel, Max Lanier, and Mickey Owen accepted $10,000 each to play in the Mexican League. In response Commissioner Chandler banned them for five years on grounds that they violated baseball’s reserve clause. Gardella sued Major League Baseball and the New York Giants charging that the reserve clause was invalid.

By 1949 the case was still mired in the courts when Chadlner offered amnesty to Gardella as well as a rumored settlement of $60,000. Late in the year, Gardella dropped his lawsuit.

In this letter, Chandler writes to Dodger owner Walter O’Malley about the case. “I want to thank you…for the very important part you played in helping to bring about the satisfactory settlement in the Gardella case.”