his name was john mica greek ward. -- john montgomery ward. tood out from the usual he was a graduate of columbia law school entry was not afraid to challenge the club owners. he denounced the reserve clause and he said, "it is too bad that things have come to this, but sadly the national league stands for dollars and cents." "there is no escape for the players," said john montgomery ward, "if he attempts to elude the operations of the rules. but if he ever, ever reappears as a professional ballplayer, it must be at the disposition of his former club." very important. clauseserve club -- denies him a livelihood and carries him back to the club from which he attempted to escape. this is a cartoon depicting the words:sense of ward's player slaves auction. this led to the first strike in baseball. and much more. in that year, 1890, john montgomery ward persuaded his fellow baseball players to start a rival league. forget the national league edit stupid moral clause and especially its stupid reserve clause, let's start a players league. john montgo