This Day in History: 2000-02-12

February 12, 1981: MLB rules that the Red Sox failure to mail Carlton Fisk’s 1981 contract in a timely fashion means that Fisk is a free agent; the Red Sox avoided arbitration by holding onto Pudge’s contract and hoped that no one would sign Fisk due to his history of injury, but the Chicago White Sox sign him to a five-year $3 million contract.