I've previously wrote on the Andy Oliver case, "The unintended consequences of trying to protect athletes." Mr. Oliver's attorney used this article to support its position in the case Oliver v. NCAA. You have to like that the horrifying image of athletic department employees beating down an agent is now part of the case's historical record. It's a joke...that would never happen in our country, right?
Quick recap: On the night before Oklahoma State baseball player Andy Oliver was to pitch in an important NCAA regional tournament game, he was ruled ineligible for violating the NCAA's "no agent" rule, which basically prohibits NCAA athletes from retaining agents to represents their interests. The charges against Oliver came courtesy of his former advisor, Robert Baratta, who sent a scorched-earth letter to the NCAA. Rather than wait for his case to wend and wind its way through the NCAA judicial process, Oliver and his family decided on a more aggressive legal strategy: Sue OSU and the NCAA.
While the NCAA and OSU currently dispute which party was ultimately responsible for determining Oliver's immediate suspension (Read letter from OSU athletic director to the NCAA on this point), both parties apparently relied on accusations made in the Baratta letter.
But college baseball's dirty little secret is that pretty much every pro prospect has an agent. So much for it being a secret any longer, especially if you believe an anonymous American League scouting director (quoted in Baseball America, password required):
"Every single player that we deal with—I don't care what round you're talking about—has representation, has an agent. It's been that way for the last four or five years, and I'm talking even about kids drafted in the 28th round. It's a prerequisite now. These agents are barraging us with telephone calls before we even select a player. I can't even tell you how early agents try to call us and sell us on a player. It starts way before the draft. Those aren't calls that I initiate, but I'm not going to hang up on the guy. The problem is I guess the NCAA's problem, and it's wide and far and deep, but it's not an issue for us, it really isn't."
The entire article is very interesting -- and quotes my friend Rick Karcher, professor of sports law at Florida Coastal School of Law, who has written extensively on the NCAA's "no agent" rule. (If you want to read in its entirety, email me at and I will forward on for non-commercial purposes.)
Baseball players do not declare for their sport's draft (like they do in football and basketball), so they can be drafted by a MLB club without doing anything -- other than demonstrating they have major league ability. Many view that retaining one's amateur status and negotiating a professional baseball contract as incompatible.
So why was Andy Oliver suspended?
The NCAA has a bylaw called the "Restitution Rule," which states in part, "If a student-athlete…is permitted to participate in intercollegiate competition contrary to such NCAA legislation but in accordance with the terms of a court restraining order…said injunction is voluntarily vacated, stayed or reversed or it is finally determined by the courts that injunctive relief is not or was not justified, the Management Council may take any one or more of the following actions against such institution in the interest of restitution and fairness to competing institutions: (h) Require that the institution shall remit to the NCAA the institution's share of television receipts (other than the portion shared with other conference members) for appearing on any live television series or program if such ineligible student-athlete participates in the contest(s) selected for such telecast, or if the Management Council concludes that the institution would not have been selected for such telecast but for the participation of such ineligible student-athlete during the season of the telecast; any such funds thus remitted shall be devoted to the NCAA postgraduate scholarship program."
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