Roberto Clemente Signs with Brooklyn

On February 19, 1954, a 19-year-old Roberto Clemente signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers for a $10,000 bonus and a $5,000 salary. The Dodgers outbid several clubs, including the New York Giants, who already had Willie Mays and Monte Irvin in their outfield. But the signing carried a catch. Under the bonus rule of the time, any player signed for more than $4,000 had to stay on the 25-man major league roster for two full seasons or become eligible for the Rule 5 draft. The Dodgers sent Clemente to their Triple-A affiliate in Montreal instead, and the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him after the 1954 season. Clemente went on to collect 3,000 hits and win two World Series in Pittsburgh, becoming one of the greatest players in the history of the game.

The same date in 1953 brought a harrowing scene far from any ballpark. Ted Williams, flying a combat mission in Korea as a Marine Corps pilot, took anti-aircraft fire that damaged his F9F Panther jet. He crash-landed the burning plane at a forward airfield and walked away with minor injuries. Williams flew 39 missions during the Korean War, missing most of two seasons before returning to the Red Sox in August 1953.

In 1946, Giants outfielder Danny Gardella became the first major leaguer to announce he was jumping to the Mexican League, run by millionaire Jorge Pasquel. Gardella's decision set off a wave of defections and triggered a legal battle over the reserve clause that anticipated the free agency fights of the 1970s.

In 2019, Manny Machado signed a 10-year, $300 million contract with the San Diego Padres, the largest free agent deal in baseball history at the time.