Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale End Their Joint Holdout

On March 30, 1966, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale signed their contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers, ending a 32-day joint holdout that had stunned baseball. Koufax agreed to $125,000 and Drysdale to $105,000. The holdout was unprecedented. Two star players had bargained together, using shared leverage in an era when the reserve clause gave clubs near-total power over salaries.

The pair had originally demanded a combined $1 million over three years, split evenly. They hired an entertainment lawyer, J. William Hayes, and floated the possibility of pursuing acting careers if the Dodgers refused to negotiate. The threat was partly theater, but it worked. The Dodgers needed both pitchers. Koufax had gone 26-8 with a 2.04 ERA in 1965, winning the Cy Young Award and pitching the Dodgers to a World Series title. Drysdale had won 23 games in 1965 and was the staff's durable second ace.

Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi eventually met with each pitcher separately, which broke the unified front. The final numbers fell short of what Koufax and Drysdale wanted, but both received substantial raises. Koufax's $125,000 made him the highest-paid player in baseball and the first pitcher to earn a six-figure salary.

Koufax justified every dollar. He went 27-9 with a 1.73 ERA in 1966, winning another Cy Young Award before retiring after the season due to traumatic arthritis in his left elbow. The joint holdout had lasted barely a month, but it planted the seed for collective player action. A decade later, free agency arrived and redrew the salary landscape entirely.