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 Happy 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.”