Tom Reich was chairman and founder of the sports agency Reich, Katz & Landis. A member of the American Bar Association, Reich represented numerous professionals, including Joe Morgan, Sammy Sosa and Chris Chelios. Highly respected by Major League Baseball and the NHL, he worked with those leagues to help craft settlements of the collective-bargaining agreements. Named among the “12 Agents of Influence” and the “Top 25 Power Brokers” by Baseball America and ranked as one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Sports” by Sporting News, Reich was a frequent participant in discussions affecting the sports business. For this interview, which took place on July 16, 2004, he walked over to my office on Third Avenue in New York City from his apartment across from the Museum of Modern Art. The interview was published in SBJ on August 30, 2004. Tom passed away on July 3 at age 82 in Los Angeles. Rest in peace, Tom.
Q. Shakespeare wrote (in Much Ado About Nothing): “Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent.” He wasn’t referring to sports agents, was he?
Reich: Shakespeare also wrote, “Let’s kill all the lawyers.” And in a lot of respects, he was probably right. I often feel that way. But the truth of the matter is that after over 30 years, I have to believe that we’re doing something right and that there is a necessity for us. I started in the business when there were no representatives, and, so that really isn’t the case, although there have been a lot of circumstances, I’m sure, where people would align themselves with the esteemed Mr. Shakespeare.
Q. You’ve been a sports agent since 1970. How did you get into the business?
Reich: I was living in Pittsburgh. I come from Pittsburg—and proud of it. I was a young lawyer and a huge sports fan, and I got to know a variety of professional athletes. One of them was Dock Ellis. He was my first client. Dock was reality TV before they knew such as thing.
Q. [The book] Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball.
Reich: Right. Dock was an extremely articulate and a really acute guy. But he lived on the razor’s edge. He was a warehouse of experience and information. A very impressive guy, and controversial as hell.
Q. You told Ellis that you would do his contract for free?
Reich: At the time I took him, he was making $13,000, so it wasn’t a question of money. Back then, the players didn’t have any rights to speak of. The de rigueur line that you would get from general managers back then was, “If you don’t like this, let’s see how your guy likes cutting his grass all summer.” That was a line that was used on me more than once. That was the mentality back then.
Q. In the book Lords of the Realm…
Reich: That was a great job. For a guy [author John Helyar] coming from the outside, he did a great job.
Q. Helyar wrote that your early client base was predominantly black and Hispanic baseball players (Joe Morgan, George Foster, Dave Parker, John Candelaria, Manny Sanguillen). He quotes Chuck Berry, a former associate of yours: “[Reich] relished the idea he was the defender of the of the poor minorities. He became the Black Knight, in a sense.”
Reich: That’s a little melodramatic. But the racism factor back then was awful for the players. There were a lot of incidents in Pittsburgh and other places that were not melodramatic. They were real.
Q. Racism in baseball? The fans?
Reich: You name it. In terms of the early years, the Hispanic players were starting to become a factor back then. Of course, now the infusion of numbers and talent is extraordinary and is nonstop and appropriate. They’re that good, the players.
There were a lot of issues back then. I was a fiery guy and I didn’t take any bullshit from anywhere then. There was a lot of that. Racism here in 2004 is a lot better than it was back in 1970. There have been vast improvements in our society and in sports—even more in sports. But it still has a long way to go. But back then, it was ugly. If you were able to transport all of us back there, it would shock the living crap out of younger people.
Q. Helyar also wrote in Lords of the Realm that “Like Jerry Kapstein, [Reich] was perfectly positioned for the dawn of free agency…By the eighties he was baseball’s biggest agent.”
Reich: Kapstein liked the use of free agency as a fundamental strategy. That’s his business, just like it’s [Scott] Boras’s business now. When you represent players, you have to take into consideration a lot more than money in terms of fit, in terms of the quality of the organization, and in a lot of cases the quality of the opportunity for the player. Money’s a huge factor because the guys aren’t around very long in professional sports. This is not like being a great diva, where you can go diva-ing along for about 30-40 years. Not in this business.
So, yes, I represented a lot of players. I still represent a lot of players. But the business has changed quote dramatically, and free agency isn’t entirely free. First of all, most of free agency is what I call involuntary free agency. Most free agents are involuntary because they haven’t been offered a contract. There are not many businesses where the one side, the entrepreneurial side, controls both the supply and the demand. Not even OPEC gets to do that.
Q. Who are some of the players you represent today?
Reich: We represent—my group (RKL)—Sammy Sosa, Maglio Ordonez, the Boone brothers, Chris Chelios, Ron Francis. Now, it’s safe to say, I do primarily baseball. I still do Joe Morgan’s ESPN stuff. I’ve represented Joe for almost 30 years. Of the players now, there’s a younger crowd: Aramis Ramirez, Rafael Furcal…we’ve got a lot of players, probably about 60-70 major league players.
Q. In the book Building Reputational Capital, the author, Kevin T. Jackson writes, “Reputation is the primary attribute of commercial relationships. If there is no trust, there is no deal.” The fact that you have been at this for 35 years says a lot about the players’ trust in you. Is anything more important than trust?
Reich: I’m afraid that that’s become a little ambiguous at this point. It’s easy for somebody who’s been doing something for a long time to sit here and pontificate that, yes, it’s trust and that’s why I’m still here. But the truth of the matter is that this is a largely unregulated business. It’s more like the wild, wild west now than it is a profession. A lot of people in the profession that do operate off that and there are a whole lot of people who don’t. One of the biggest problems we have in this profession is that there are hundreds and hundreds of bounty hunters. They get paid for delivering the signatures of players. They get paid only for that. This is a business that’s largely unregulated and largely of control.
Q. Earlier this year, you said, “The agent system is in a state of anarchy without any controls or regulations being enforced.”
What needs to be done to regulate the business?
Reich: The union has a lot of problems in dealing with the juggernaut that is major league baseball. Everybody likes to say, “Oh, this union dominates the game of baseball.” I don’t think so.
This thing is dominated big time by the major league owners and the commissioner. And, so, the union has its hands full and then some. And regulation is one of the things that’s clearly slipped away. And it is largely unregulated. I made a reference about from 8-10 months ago, where I said it was Al Capone’s Chicago. And I stand on that.
Q. You also said that “The salary cap … will be accepted about the time the 13 original states restore the monarchy.” Were you referring to a salary cap in baseball?
Reich: Yes. That has to be taken in context of when I said it and why I said it. It was during the labor negotiations one of these times. I wouldn’t say that like that now. Let’s say this: I would say that the system that’s in place now is not a system that I think is too long for this world.
The system that’s in place now is not even fair. I think we’ll see significant changes in the system. Baseball, as you obviously know, is on a pretty good little run right now. The game is exciting. The races are exciting. And, so, the fans are back. There are a lot of new stadiums. It’s not necessarily magic without anything else. But it’s been a big plus, and I think for the fans right now, baseball is very attractive. The game has been the centerpiece of my life. I still absolutely love being at the park. And with the setup I have at my [apartment], I’ve got three screens and I watch 30 to 40 games a week. I love it. With the satellite and the clickers and the multiple sets, it’s much better than anything else I can think of.
Q. Do professional athletes with multi-million-dollar salaries need incentive clauses?
Reich: That’s a very on time, appropriate question. Incentive clauses often times are used as compromise mechanisms for differences in money and the distribution of risk vs. reward. So, the question can easily be dealt with intellectually. The public consumption of it—you can’t deal with that any way successfully. But they are used as settlement mechanisms, as compromise mechanisms when there are differences of opinion, for the most part.
Q. You have clients in the different sports? What can the different pro sports leagues learn from one another?
Reich: They more than learn from one another. There are a lot of owners now that who their hands in more than one sport. So you have the commonality of ownership in hockey, baseball—some sports don’t permit it, like football. The answer to your question is very proactive. In fact, when it comes to things like labor and promotions and financial issues, more proactive than ever before. Very much a factor in the business of sports. You see a lot of the brainy guys, including commissioners, crossing over from one sport to another, so you know that all their family tree and elements of their relationships and experience and access goes with them. So, it’s a major factor.
Q. There is a song in The Mikado in which Ko-Ko lists things that would not be missed: “…nuisances who write for autographs/ …people [with] irritating laughs.” What in sports would not be missed if done away with?
Reich: Some of the questions that are asked of the players are so far afield, are so inappropriate, it’s like nails across a chalkboard. Sometimes I wonder how the players can possibly deal with some of the questions.
Q. Mark Cuban (on 60 Minutes): “Sometimes, you have to bring in fresh ideas to shake things up. What’s the freshest idea you have heard lately in sports business?
Reich: Mark Cuban is an old Pittsburgher. He’s one of these people, a sports fanatic and a huge business success, who put his money and those ideas where his mouth is. He has done all kinds of things and shook things up that were successful. He made a franchise that was terrible into one of the most desirable destination places in the NBA.
Mark Cuban has brought all kinds of innovation and aggressiveness to that sport with great results.
The best idea? The satellite dish has been around, but it is an example of how people who are baseball fans can participate on a level that they never dreamed of. But now what is being done by the sports with the Internet, where any one of us (if we know how to do it ) can see at any given moment what the box score in any game is.
Baseball is a game of history and statistics and lore but also of immediate gratification. What you can do now on the Internet is phenomenal. I wish I was more of a techie—I wish I was a scintilla of a techie!—but it is fabulous stuff.
Q. There is a book The Dumbest Moments in Business History. What is the dumbest moment in sports business history?
Reich: I’m sure that fans think the dumbest moment is a work stoppage. What would have been the dumbest moment in recent baseball history would have been if they had shut down the game two years ago, because you wouldn’t have what you have now.
I don’t know what the dumbest things in sports is, but the way I would answer that is this: for people to forget for one minute—regardless of whether they’re players or people connected with the game—how lucky they are to be doing what they love to do, as compared to the zillions of people that are forced by circumstances to do things they can’t stand. So, anybody who forgets that for one moment, that’s dumb.
Q. How do you assess the health of the sports business?
Reich: Well, our economy and our world are not healthy. It’s not a question of just reading statistics… I have a background in finance—and I’m not pointing that out to give more credibility to the question. I’m saying that I take stuff in on a daily basis, almost like I do sports, and anybody who doesn’t realize that the economy and our world…it’s kind of like Baghdad: Our world is upside down and it’s not going to change anytime soon. I think the state of sports, given the world we live in, given the context, is pretty damn good. Football is doing very well. Baseball is definitely on the move, on the upside again. Basketball has got issues, but it’s still very viable.
Hockey’s got a world of trouble right now. But unlike a lot of doomsayers about hockey, and there are plenty, I think hockey will make a comeback in the next few years.
Q. Is the hockey issue going to be resolved? Will there be a happy ending?
Reich: I don’t think there’s anything happy right now. Let’s put it this way: There’s nothing on the screen that we’re looking at right now that would suggest something’s going to be get worked out. But these people who are running the union and are running the sport are very tough guys, and very smart guys. They’ve got a lot of both. And I’m still one who believes that at some point before the sport is irreparably damaged that something will get worked out. The market correction is already taking place in hockey. The other thing is, the competition I think in hockey, regardless of what system is put in place, because of the inevitable correction that’s already happening, regardless of the system, the competition is going to be fabulous, like we just saw in the playoffs. What you’re seeing in baseball—you’re seeing a lot of competition—you’re going to see that in hockey. Hockey will make a comeback. The combo of smart and tough that you have on both sides gets you a lot of rhetoric as labor deals always do, but I’m still optimistic that hockey is going to make a significant comeback in the next two or three years.
Q. Who’s the shrewdest or most creative businessman in sports?
Reich: That’s a good question. [Paul] Tagliabue. Man, I watched him at those indecency hearings, after [the] Janet Jackson [incident]. He’s got it all. He’s something special. I’ll tell you who else is of that ilk: David Stern. He doesn’t have as good a product, but, boy, has he done a job! A job and a half.
Q. You’re a Pittsburgh guy with a residence in New York. Do you live anywhere else?
Reich: Yeah, I go around primarily between four cities (Pittsburgh, New York, Aventura, Fla., and L. A.), depending on the season and what’s going on in the business. It’s mostly driven by the places I want to be that connect with what I have to do. I move around pretty equally. I’m still a season-ticket holder in Pittsburgh, by the way. The Pirates’ new stadium is fabulous. A Pittsburgher never gets Pittsburgh out of his system.
Q. Smartest player in the game?
Reich: The guy who is the most celebrated for that is Derek Jeter. But truth be told, there are quite a few. Every team has a lot of astute players these days. That’s the truth. Jeter is the most celebrated, and for good reason. His fame is not just because he is a skilled player. It’s because he’s that combination of intelligence and guts and instinct, and he’s all about winning.
Q. Greatest competitor?
Reich: Oh, man! Joe Morgan, among the older players, and Dave Parker. But there’s a lot of them. Pete Rose was one of the greatest competitors. It is such a frequent characteristic in this sport that it doesn’t do justice to mention just one. There are a lot of guys of that ilk. Jeter is one of them.
Q. What’s your take on the steroids controversy?
Reich: I think illegal steroids are on the way out, and they should be on the way out. But while that’s being accomplished, we shouldn’t forget about our Constitution. Because there’s a lot of forgetfulness lately about our Constitution when it comes to this steroid stuff.
Q. Favorite sporting event?
Reich: The World Series
Q. Favorite holiday?
Reich: Thanksgiving
Q. Favorite piece of music?
Reich: The Whitney Houston theme from Bodyguard, written by Dolly Parton
Q. Favorite actress and actor?
Reich: Elizabeth Taylor and Humphrey Bogart
Q. Favorite movie?
Reich: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Q. What are you reading?
Reich: I always read a lot of baseball books. I read the Roger Angell essays and Larry King’s book. I also read The Da Vinci Code. And I read a lot of political books, a lot of historical books. I usually read three or fours books at a time and they run the gamut from serious world affairs to baseball to exciting books like Grisham’s. I think my favorite book is The Bonfire of the Vanities. That was on the money.
Q. Napoleon defined a leader as a dealer in hope. You’ve had a lot of dealings with different leaders in sports. What makes a good leader?
Reich: They have to be able to rally their troops when things are bad. And they have to show some real sand when it’s crunch time.
All those sports metaphors really are appropriate. It’s easy to do something when you’re up five or down five. When everything’s on the line, you have to be something special to your people. And you have to have optimism.
Q. Do you have a favorite quote?
Reich: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” — Thomas Paine
