Arthur Soden

Who was Arthur Soden?

Arthur H. Soden was an American executive in Major League Baseball who was the president/owner of the Boston Beaneaters of the National League and a Civil War veteran. He was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. He is credited with inventing the baseball reserve clause – in 1880, standard player contracts began including a clause stating that the club could reserve the player for the following season; teams could reserve up to 5 players. In 1883, the number was increased to 11, which was a typical roster size in that era, and soon teams were allowed unlimited reserves.

Soden served as a Hospital Steward with the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.

In 1882, Soden served briefly as president of the National League following the death of William Hulbert. When the rival American Association was preparing to expand to 8 teams for the 1883 season, Soden acted to add NL teams in New York City and Philadelphia, replacing the Troy Trojans and Worcester Ruby Legs, the bottom two teams in the league. Although Troy and Worcester objected to their removal, their attendance problems – drawing only 6 and 18 spectators in their final two games against one another – sealed their fate.