Abrams, Roger I. 1945–

(Roger Ian Abrams)

∗ Indicates that a listing has been compiled from secondary sources believed to be reliable, but has not been personally verified for this edition by the author sketched.

PERSONAL: Born July 30, 1945, in Newark, NJ; son of Avel S. (in sales) and Myrna P. (a homemaker) Abrams; married Frances E. Kovitz (a psychologist), June 1, 1969; children: Jason, Seth. Education: Cornell University, B.A., 1967; Harvard University, J.D., 1970. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Swimming, distance walking, reading.

ADDRESSES: Office—Northeastern University School of Law, 23 Cargill Hall, 400 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115. E-mail—r.abrams@neu.edu.

CAREER: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Boston, MA, law clerk for Judge Frank M. Coffin, 1970–71; Foley, Hoag and Eliot (law firm), Boston, MA, associate for labor law and civil rights, 1971–74; Case Western Reserve University Law School, professor, 1974–86; Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, FL, dean of the law center, 1986–93; Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, dean of law school and professor, 1993–99; Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA, professor of law, 1999—dean, 1999–2002. Harvard University, visiting professor of law. Institute for Continuing Legal Education, NJ, member of the board of directors, 1993–98. Admitted to the Bar of Massachusetts, 1970, the Bar of the U.S. District Court (Massachusetts), 1971, and the Bar of the U.S. Court of Appeals (First Circuit), 1971. Labor arbitrator, Federal Mediation Service, 1975. Has also worked as an arbitrator for Major League Baseball, Walt Disney World, and the Internal Revenue Service, and in the entertainment, energy, and communication industries.

MEMBER: American Law Institute, American Arbitration Association (labor arbitrator), American Bar Foundation, National Academy of Arbitrators, Massachusetts Historical Society.

AWARDS, HONORS: General Counsel's Advocacy Award, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Boston chapter), 1974; inducted into the Union, NJ, Hall of Fame, 1995.

WRITINGS:

Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law, Temple University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration, Temple University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903, Northeastern University Press (Boston, MA), 2003.

Also contributor of articles to law journals.

SIDELIGHTS: Roger I. Abrams has combined his professional interests as a lawyer and his love for baseball in several ways, including working as a Major League Baseball salary arbitrator and writing several books about the law, economics, and history of baseball. His first book, Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law, illustrates several legal principles, including those related to contracts, collective bargaining, and antitrust laws, using baseball-related cases. The "book is fundamentally a textbook on general legal principles," Richard G. Sheehan explained in the Review of Politics, "albeit by far the most interesting and entertaining legal text that I have encountered." Remarking favorably on the author's prose style, New York Times Book Review critic Allen D. Boyer observed, "Wearing lightly his notable learning, Abrams writes with verve and intelligence" in Legal Bases.

In his second book, The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration, Abrams discusses how Major League Baseball players came to earn their current salaries and examines the complex salary arbitration process used by the league. As he shows, the pay of any specific player depends on a dense network of factors, including the player's free agent status, eligibility for salary arbitration, athletic talent, and negotiating skill. Despite its focus on such frequently dry topics as economics and game theory, "The Money Pitch is a stimulating and informative book," James W. Eaton wrote in Nine. "Abrams makes salary determination in baseball more understandable, and for this he is to be commended." Law and Politics Book Review critic Lawrence Baum also praised the book, noting that "even readers who know a good deal about baseball as a sport and business will learn new things."

Abrams's next book, The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903, blends "social history, sports anecdote, and urban studies," according to Paul Kaplan and Robert C. Cottrell in the Library Journal. Abrams describes the negotiations in which the owners of the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to play each other in the series, the social factors that led both native-born Americans and immigrants to embrace baseball as the national pastime, and the festival atmosphere that prevailed in the stands during the games, with bands, organized dancers, and formal teams of "rooters" turning out to cheer their team and entertain the other fans. Abrams "contends that baseball served as the primary unifier of an American society made up of distinct social classes created by a host of factors associated with pre-[World War II] economics," explained a Publishers Weekly contributor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 2003, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, "The First Boys of October," review of The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903, p. 1267.

Library Journal, April 15, 2000, Larry R. Little, review of The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration, p. 97; February 1, 2003, Paul Kaplan and Robert C. Cottrell, review of The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903, p. 88.

New York Times Book Review, October 25, 1998, Allen D. Boyer, review of Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law, p. 37.

Nine, fall, 2001, James W. Eaton, review of The Money Pitch, p. 160.

Publishers Weekly, February 10, 2003, review of The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903, p. 175.

Review of Politics, spring, 2000, Richard G. Sheehan, review of Legal Bases, p. 390.

ONLINE

Law and Politics Book Review, http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/lpbr/ (January 2, 2006), Lawrence Baum, review of The Money Pitch.

Northeastern University Law School Web site, http://www.slaw.neu.edu/ (October 19, 2005), "Roger I. Abrams."

Temple University Press Web site, http://www.temple.edu/ (May 15, 2003), "The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration"; (August 28, 2003), "Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law."