True Facts: Free-Agent Parting Gestures

The Associated Press reported yesternight that, as a token of his appreciation to the team for which he played his first nine seasons, Boston-bound outfielder Carl Crawford treated 150 Tampa Bay Rays employees to a barbecue lunch on Wednesday.

Of course, Crawford’s gesture is not without precedent. In the years since free agency began in 1976, it’s become customary for departing players to recognize the relationships they’ve established during their team-controlled years. Here are five other, super-un-fictional examples of similar situations.

1981: Upon receiving his contract for 1980 a day after the deadline, and thus becoming a free agent, Boston catcher Carlton Fisk mails back to miserly GM Haywood Sullivan a disembodied middle finger with very specific instructions on what Sullivan “can go ahead and do” with said finger.

1983: On eve of departure for San Diego, Steve Garvey spends one eventful night making every woman in Los Angeles his “special lady.”

2000: Lefty Denny Neagle gives former clubs the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds the gift of laughter after informing them the Colorado GM Dan O’Dowd had just signed him to a five-year, $51 million contract.

2006: A single night after making one of the legitimately great catches in Major League history, Gary Matthews Jr. lavishes all manner of gifts and praise upon the relevant employees of David M. Schwarz Architectural Services, designers of the Ballpark in Arlington. In the attendant thank you note, Matthews explains that “owing to the firm’s choices in park dimensions,” that they had unwittingly compelled a number of teams to incorrectly assess Matthews’ sub-par defensive skills. “I owe almost all of the millions of dollars I’ll be overpaid to you,” continued Matthews.

2009: Mark Teixeira, about to play for his fourth team (the Yankees) in two years, almost remembers name of Angels’ clubhouse attendant.