Tom Reich, pioneering baseball and hockey agent, dies at 82

Thomas M. Reich, a pioneering baseball agent with an ebullient, oversized personality who helped players gain multimillion dollar salaries in the early years of free agency, died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 82.

Reich had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2019.

Tom Reich went to the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne's law school, then became a lawyer in Pittsburgh. He started as an agent in 1970 representing pitcher Dock Ellis, who had a $13,000 salary at a time players still were fighting to gain free agency.

Early clients included Dave Parker, John Candelaria and Manny Sanguillen of the Pirates. Among his first stars was Joe Morgan, who became a Hall of Famer and remained a lifelong friend.

“The racism factor back then was awful for the players,” Reich told the Sports Business Journal in 2004. “There were a lot of incidents in Pittsburgh and other places that were not melodramatic. They were real. The Hispanic players were starting to become a factor back then. Of course, now the infusion of numbers and talent is extraordinary. But there were a lot of issues back then. I was a fiery guy.”

With a beard that he sometimes grew out, especially after it turned gray, Reich was among the more colorful figures in baseball and became influential as salaries soared after arbitrator Peter Seitz's decision in December 1975 that led to free agency.

Reich, Jerry Kapstein and Dick Moss were among the most notable agents who drove the free agent market in its early years, courted by owners and general managers who coveted their players.

"Bring ’em some iron!” Reich liked to say, his Pittsburgh accent fully on display.

In February 1982, he negotiated the first contract with a $2 million average salary, George Foster’s $10.2...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Tom-Reich-pioneering-baseball-and-hockey-agent-16291041.php