Yankees Sign Williams; Next Move Up To Finley

NEW YORK -- Boldly breaking a two-month stalemate on their own, the New York Yankees defied Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley Thursday by signing Dick Williams to a three-year contract as their manager at an estimated $70,000 per season. In effect, the Yankees told Finley, who has Williams under contract in 1974 and 1975 and still calls him "my manager," to go to court if he doesn't like it. Both the Yankees and the Athletics now have contracts signed by Williams, and if Finley chooses to take legal action it will eventually be up to the courts to decide which side is right.

At his Laporte, Ind. home, Finley said the Yankees "decided to make a fast move" but declined further comment. He said he'd "prefer to stay mum this time." Previously, Finley has threatened to sue if the Yanks signed Williams without giving him compensation in money or players. Williams resigned as Oakland manager Oct. 21, minutes after the A's had beaten the New York Mets in the seventh game of the World Series. Williams claims Finley gave him a verbal release from the last two years of his contract on national TV after he resigned. Finley claims he didn't and the two sides have been negotiating for the last 7½ weeks without being able to agree on compensation.

Gabe Paul, the president of the Yankees, said, "We have waited long enough. Our club felt it was in the best interests of the Yankees to sign Williams as its manager." An NBC-TV spokesman, after checking the tape of their Oct. 21 telecast, reported that Finley said on national TV, "even though you're not going to be with us next year, want to thank you for the great job that you've done for the three years you've been with me." Williams replied, "Thank you, Charlie, very much and I'm going to miss not being with you but I've made a decision and I'm going to stay with it."

Former Yankee manager Ralph Houk resigned on the final day of the season and signed with the Detroit Tigers in October even though he had two years left on his contract with New York.

[source: upi]