Player Unionization Threats pre WWII

kruezer

Registered User
Apr 21, 2002
6,731
305
North Bay
I was just reading Trail of the Stanley Cup Vol 1 and Coleman printed a letter from Art Ross to the Montreal Herald in 1910 written in protest about the league instituting a $5000 cap on salaries per team, and it got me wondering if there were any other player led movements to gain more equity or better treatment from the owners before WWII? Or any other caps put in place in the non NHL leagues from the time period of if this is just a one off outlier?
 

nabby12

Registered User
Nov 11, 2008
1,659
1,523
Winnipeg
A couple of stories that I wrote recently help cover this question!

On July 8, 1938, former Chicago Black Hawks centre Don McFadyen, who was now working as a lawyer in Chicago after retiring in 1936, penned a letter to the legendary Hall of Famer Babe Siebert to get his opinion on a potential players association. This is the first instance I've seen about talks regarding a players association. The story is here:
The Players Association

And then a few years later, teaming up with Rangers' stars Art Coulter, Neil Colville, Mac Colville, and Alex Shibicky, retired NHLer Gerry Geran attempted to start up the “Association of Hockey Players of America” in 1941. Geran had suggested that hockey start a players' association and stage all-star games to benefit former players who had fallen on hard times. The story is here:
The Players Association (Part Two)
 

reckoning

Registered User
Jan 4, 2005
7,102
1,460
There's an article in the first issue of THN that mentions a NHL Players Committee. This is 1947, but was probably already in existence for awhile.

It say it was headed by Syl Apps, with Sid Abel and Glen Harmon on the board. They had reached a plan with the NHL for a pension where the players would contribute $900 and the owners would contribute $500 and 2/3rds of the profits from the All Star Game which was starting as an annual event.
 

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