Unbelievable Contract Clauses

Signing a professional contract is an important moment for any athlete, no matter the stage of their sports career. But it always pays to read the fine print. Today on the show, three very real contract stories that you won't quite believe.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
By two thousand and one, Spencer Pryor had enjoyed a
successful career in English football. The thirty year old defender
had played for several clubs. Finding a new team was
never a problem, and this time he was set to
move from Manchester City to Cardiff City. As one of
the more experienced players. It was a good deal, good money,

(00:26):
but Spencer had overlooked four causes in his new contract,
causes that he would never have agreed to if he'd
read them in the first place, and one of them,
if he actually followed through with its requirements, would probably
have put him in jail. Hey, welcome to the pool room,

(00:53):
where we celebrate the winners, losers and the weird stuff between.
I'm Tony Armstrong and today we're putting pen to paper
on three of the wildest contract stories from the world
of sports. In any athlete's career, signing a contract is

(01:16):
a big deal, whether it's their very first professional agreement
or a big money move to a new team, but
it always pays to read the fine print. When Spencer
Pryor signed with Cardiff City, it was the beginning of
a new chapter in his football career. New team, Newtown,

(01:41):
New Country, it was a big move, but Spencer was
used to it. Cardiff was his sixth club, so you'd
think he'd be used to signing contracts by now. At
the very least, you'd expect his agent would be across
all of the details, but neither of them seem to
have read. For bizarre clauses. The first clause stipulated that

(02:05):
Spencer must get physical with a sheep. The next clause
required him to eat fried sheep's testicles, specifically with lemonon salt.
The third clause said that Spencer must eat sheep's brains,
this time with parsley lemonon salt, and the last clause

(02:27):
specified that he had to eat lamb liver, this time
without seasoning. When rumors of the contract clauses leaked to
the press, a Cardiff City spokesperson confirmed it was true.
The club's chairman Sam Hammam was quick to explain. He said,
it's simple, with Spencer being non Welsh, he needs to

(02:49):
prove to the people of Wales that he understands the place.
Then he can become a true leader. But these food
items had nothing to do with whales. Fried sheep testicles
are in fact considered a delicacy in many cultures, including
the chairman's home country of Lebanon. Spencer Pryor was a
little uneasy about the whole thing, but he tried to

(03:10):
play it cool. He said, it must be the strangest
contract in the history of football, but I'll try anything once.
So Cardiff City served up a dish of sheep testicles,
complete with a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lemon
and garnished with parsley, and then Spencer ate it. But

(03:31):
it was later revealed that the dish was actually just chicken.
The whole thing had been an elaborate prank. While the
causes were indeed written into Spencer's Cardiff City contract, the
club had no plans to enforce them. A spokesperson said,
it's more of a fun thing. Just in case anyone
had missed the point. For this next story, I'm taking

(03:55):
you back to the early twentieth century, when baseball entered
the modern age. America's favorite pastime is full of larger
than life characters. Pitcher Ray Caldwell was undoubtedly one of them.
He's remembered for his colorful life outside the ballpark as

(04:16):
much as his play inside it. One time he was
struck by lightning during a game, only to get back
up and finish pitching through the remaining innings. That probably
tells you all you need to know. Ray started his
baseball career in nineteen ten as a twenty two year
old playing for the New York Highlanders, a team later

(04:37):
known as the Yankees. You might have heard of him.
Ray had his ups and downs throughout his career, including
a few injuries which didn't help to cope. Ray developed
a drinking problem. His attitude towards baseball began to slip,
only turning up for games when he felt like it. Initially,

(04:58):
the Yankees handed Ray fines and vensions, but when that
didn't work, they released him. Following a short stint with
the Boston Red Sox, Ray Caldwell joined Cleveland in nineteen nineteen,
now thirty one years old. He was considered a veteran
player in his day, but he could still be a

(05:19):
valuable contributor to the team if he could get his
act together. But rather than trying to discipline Ray, Cleveland
took a different approach. His new contract stipulated that he
was required to drink. I'm going to quote from his
actual contract here. After each game he pitches, Ray Caldwell

(05:41):
must get drunk. He is not to report to the
clubhouse the next day. Ray could not believe what he
was reading, but he signed the contract anyway. It also
outlined that on the second day he had to report
to the manager and run laps at the park, attend

(06:01):
pitching and batting practice on day three, and play his
next game on day four. Amazingly, race performance has started
to lift, including throwing a no hitter against his old team,
the Yankees. But perhaps even more remarkable was his debut
game for Cleveland, the very game in which he was
struck by lightning, knocked unconscious, then got straight back up

(06:23):
again to help his team secure the win. To more
recent history, now, and we're going to stay in the
world of baseball, where so many of the wildest contract
stories seem to come from, and this one will go
down as one of the greatest deals in sports history.
And it's still paying off. In nineteen ninety one, third

(06:50):
baseman and outfielder Bobby Bernilla signed with the New York Mets.
At the time, the deal, which was worth more than
six million dollars a year, made him the highest paid
player in Major League Baseball, but Bobby failed to live
up to expectations. Four years later, he was traded to
another team. But Bobby Banilla's story doesn't end there. In

(07:15):
nineteen ninety eight, he made a return to the Mets.
Maybe the team thought he had some unfinished business, but
once again Bobby couldn't deliver the performance as asked of him.
After a disappointing nineteen ninety nine season, the Mets decided
to release Bobby the following year, allowing another team to
pick him up. However, in terminating his contract, the Mets

(07:36):
still owed Bobby about six million dollars. The team could
have paid him up front and being done with it,
but Bobby and his agent made the Mets an offer.
They proposed the deal that meant Bobby would defer his
payment for ten years. Then, starting in twenty eleven, the
Mets would pay Bobby almost one point two million dollars

(07:57):
a year for twenty five years, including eight percent interest.
It was a bold move. Surely the Mets were getting
the raw end of the deal. Well, the team's owner
didn't think so. At the time, he'd made some particular
financial investments that he believed would bring in greater returns

(08:17):
and at higher interest rates than the club would have
to pay Bobby. So the Mets agreed, but it didn't
turn out great for the ball club. The investments the
Mets owner had brought into were led by Bernie Madoff. Yep,
the same Bernie Madoff who went to prison for running
the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Now the Mets are

(08:41):
stuck paying Bobby Banilla one point two million dollars every
year until twenty thirty five, for a total payout of
thirty million US dollars plus interest. By then, he'll be
seventy two years old. Not a bad retirement fund. Mets fans,
at least have a good sense of humor about it.
Every year, on the first of July they celebrate the

(09:03):
big payday known as Bobby Vanilla Day. I'm Tony Armstrong
and you've been listening to the pool Room and iHeart production.
Catcha