## Facts

- A professional baseball club hired John T. Pickett under a written contract for the 1892 season.
- The contract set a fixed term (Mar. 26, 1892–Oct. 31, 1892) and a fixed salary of $3,000, including a $500 advance, payable semi-monthly.
- The contract contained no clause allowing the club to terminate on notice and did not provide a reciprocal right for Pickett to quit on notice.
- Pickett began performance and played until June 1, 1892, when the club discharged him.
- The club asserted Pickett was released for lack of skill and ability.
- Pickett sued for breach of the fixed-term hiring contract; the trial court entered judgment for Pickett.
- At trial, the club attempted to introduce evidence of an alleged industry custom permitting discharge of an “incompetent” player on ten days’ notice.
- The trial court excluded the custom evidence and instructed that the club could prevail only if Pickett lacked the skill of an ordinary professional player and was released for that reason.
- The jury found for Pickett; the club appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether evidence of an industry custom allowing discharge on ten days’ notice is admissible to qualify or add to a written, fixed-term employment contract that contains no termination-on-notice provision.
2. What performance standard is implied in a contract for skilled services by a professional athlete, and whether alleged incompetence justified the club’s mid-season discharge.
3. Whether a wrongfully discharged player under a season-long salary contract may recover damages for the breach.

## Decision

- The Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment for Pickett.
- The court upheld exclusion of evidence of a ten-day discharge custom because it would materially alter the express written agreement.
- The court approved the instruction that Pickett’s implied obligation was to possess and exercise the skill of an ordinary professional baseball player.
- The jury could reasonably find Pickett met the ordinary-professional-skill standard; therefore, the discharge constituted a breach.

## Legal Principles

- A written, fixed-term employment contract with definite duration and pay may not be varied by evidence of trade usage that would contradict or materially change its express terms.
- Evidence of custom is not admissible to create a unilateral right of early termination where the contract is silent and provides the employee no reciprocal right to leave on similar notice.
- In contracts for skilled labor, the law implies a duty to possess and exercise the skill and ability of an ordinary practitioner in that profession; discharge for incompetence requires proof that this standard was not met.
- Wrongful discharge from a fixed-term skilled-services contract supports a damages claim for lost compensation for the remainder of the term, subject to amounts paid and mitigation.

## Conclusion

The court enforced the season-long player contract as written, refused to add a one-sided termination-on-notice term through alleged industry custom, and held that termination for lack of ability was justified only upon proof the player fell below the ordinary professional skill standard; the verdict for the player was therefore affirmed.


Baltimore Baseball Club & Exhibition Co. of Baltimore City v. Pickett, 28 A. 279 (Md. 1894)