Latest Show: The Players' League, Betty Robinson, 'Great Halifax Explosion'

Baseball's reserve clause held until 1975, but players came close to abolishing it once before...in 1890. This week on Only A Game, a retired contractor unearths documents left behind from the Players' League. Plus, the Great Halifax Explosion of 1917 indirectly led to the creation of the most successful college hockey program in U.S. history. And, Betty Robinson, the Olympic sprinter who survived a plane crash and came back to win her second gold medal. Join us!

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Retired Contractor Discovers Rare 1890 Players' League Documents

For much of baseball's history, team owners had all the control. Thanks to the reserve clause, they could pay their players whatever they wanted. In 1890, a secret society called the "Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players" tried to take the owners down.

3 Stories: Olympic Update, NFL's Ugly Month, $1.8 Million Assistant Coach

Cindy Boren of the Washington Post and Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal joined Bill Littlefield.

Betty Robinson: The Olympian Who 'Died' And Came Back To Win Gold

Betty Robinson won an Olympic gold medal in the 100-meters when she was just 16. After overcoming a plane crash, the prognosis she'd never walk again and the Great Depression, she won another gold medal in 1936.

Charlie Pierce: The Week In Sports

Bill Littlefield and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce discuss the return of Eli Manning, the IOC's Russia ban and Milwaukee Public Library wrestling.

The U.S.-Canada Alliance — And Hockey Program — Born From An Explosion

One of the most successful college hockey program in U.S. history owes its existence to a Canadian who grew up hating the U.S. and to one of the largest explosions in history.