Barred from Major League Baseball during his prime, Veeck's signing of the aging star in 1948 was viewed by many as another publicity stunt.

The offseason was dominated by three months of unsuccessful trade talks with the Orioles involving 2B Brian Roberts, as well as the signing of Chunichi Dragons star Kosuke Fukudome.

Demme's next film, 1980's Melvin and Howard, did not get a wide release, but received a groundswell of critical acclaim, and led to the signing of Demme to direct the Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell star vehicle Swing Shift.

The signing of Spanish under-21 midfielder Ander Herrera was agreed well before the end of the season, although the young star elected to stay with formative club Real Zaragoza as a gesture of respect as they battled against relegation.

Still smarting from the loss of star players to Collingwood, the Tigers set themselves for war with the Magpies in 1984 by signing three of their players: John Annear, Craig Stewart and Phil Walsh.

One of his most recognized accomplishments was signing the Boston group Aerosmith to Columbia Records in the early 1970s at New York City's Max's Kansas City, which was mentioned in the 1979 Aerosmith song " No Surprise ", where Steven Tyler sings, " Old Clive Davis said he's surely gonna make you a star, just the way you are.

The team began auspiciously, signing former Detroit Red Wing star Tom Webster, hard rock Boston Bruins ' defenseman Ted Green ( the team's inaugural captain ), Toronto Maple Leafs ' defensemen Rick Ley, Jim Dorey and Brad Selwood, and former Pittsburgh Penguins ' goaltender Al Smith.

Primarily, an effective salary cap prevents wealthy teams from certain destructive behaviours, such as signing a multitude of high-paid star players, preventing their rivals from accessing talented players and ensuring victory through superior economic power.

Eventually, nearly all of the other teams jettisoned league founder David Dixon's original blueprint and began signing star players to expensive contracts -- a step which ultimately proved to be the league's undoing.

Many years later in 1959 it signing baseball star Ted Williams to a contract and sold an 80-card set oriented around highlights of his career.

The latter signing was an important one for the Raiders as vice-captain and star playmaker Terry Campese is out indefinitely due to a knee injury suffered in the semi-final loss to Wests at the end of the 2010 season.

The next season, with the retirement of Hašek and the signing of star goaltender Curtis Joseph, Legace saw his workload increase from 20 games to 25 games in the 2002 – 03 season, yet remained the team's backup.

As with other All Black players, Howlett has been courted by Northern Hemisphere clubs looking for a star signing in the aftermath of the Rugby World Cup.

In 2009 the team finished in the bottom of the league despite having a few young stars on the team like slugger Shuichi Murata and league batting champion Seiichi Uchikawa, and also having the pitching of Daisuke Miura and the signing of foreign star Ryan Glynn.

Their second album Communiqué ( 1979 ) made the Top 20 in many countries and earned another gold record award in the U. S. WBR also enjoyed renewed success with comedy recordings in this period, transferring Richard Pryor from Reprise and signing rising star Steve Martin, whose second Warner album A Wild and Crazy Guy ( 1978 ) became one of the label's biggest comedy hits — it reached # 2 on the pop album chart, won the 1979 Grammy for ' Best Comedy Album ', and Martin's novelty single " King Tut " was a US Top 20 hit.

Woodyatt was also instrumental in launching an Aid for Haiti event at Coventry's Ricoh Arena in February 2010, with many of his soap star colleagues posing for photographs, signing autographs, and providing items for an auction, which raised £ 30, 000.

Prior to the 2004 season, the Mets signed Japanese star Kazuo Matsui, whose only condition upon signing was that he got a chance to play his regular position, shortstop.

By early December 2004, the club had created a steady foundation of player signings and began negotiations with former Perth Glory striker Nik Mrdja, signing him later in the month as their star striker.

With such an excellent season under his belt, star man Carlton Aaron departed the team during the close-season, trying out for teams in South Korea, before eventually signing for a Guildford side preparing for their first appearance in Europe ’ s ULEB Cup.

When Werblin signed University of Alabama star quarterback Joe Namath after the 1964 season for a then-unheard of annual salary of $ 430, 000, the Jets, and the AFL, were made ; the Namath signing, and his subsequent stardom, along with a new, more lucrative television contract with NBC, led more than any other single factor to the AFL – NFL merger.

The 1995 – 96 season would see the notable signing of Washington Capitals star Peter Bondra for a brief time, while he was locked in a holdout with Washington management, as well as the departure of Rick Dudley to take the general manager's position with the Ottawa Senators, replaced by assistant coach Steve Ludzik for the final 32 games.

Mayer and Thalberg scored an almost immediate coup by signing Universal star Lon Chaney to Metro's first non-inherited production He Who Gets Slapped ( 1924 ).

After signing a one-race contract with Michael Waltrip Racing, Allmendinger replaced fellow former open-wheel star Patrick Carpentier at Gillett Evernham Motorsports, scoring an average finish of 15. 4 in the team's # 10 Valvoline Dodge.

After signing a number of star players ( including Cal Bruton, Tiny Pinder and James Crawford ), the Wildcats not only made their first playoff appearance in 1987, but attained a Grand Final berth.

On December 16, 1991, they made their first-ever signing, inking 16-year-old Dominican pitcher Clemente Núñez to a contract.

The Brewers first significant free-agent signing in many years was veteran catcher Damian Miller, a Wisconsin native, and to address a need for better run production, the Brewers traded speedy outfielder Scott Podsednik and relief pitcher Luis Vizcaino to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for slugging outfielder Carlos Lee.

They started to improve in, largely due to the signing of future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young.

The Pirates designated Ledezma for assignment on December 24, 2010 to clear roster space after signing free agent pitcher Aaron Thompson.

At the time of his signing, Santana was the highest-paid pitcher in the MLB with the second-highest salary overall.

In free agency, the Yankees signing slugging right fielder Reggie Jackson for $ 2. 96 million ($ in current dollar terms ) over five years and pitcher Don Gullett for $ 2 million ($ in current dollar terms ) over six years.

Upon signing with the Yankees prior to the 2009 season, Sabathia became the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history.

In 2009, Boras's clients broke several draft records, led by Stephen Strasburg, who surpassed the $ 15 million barrier with the largest contract in draft history ($ 15. 1 million ), Donavan Tate, who received the largest signing bonus ever given to a high school player ($ 6. 25 million ), and Jacob Turner, who received the largest signing bonus ever given to a high school pitcher ($ 4. 7 million ).

* Several other Boras clients also signed record-breaking deals following the 2009 draft, including Donavan Tate's $ 6. 25 million signing bonus with the San Diego Padres ( largest ever for a high school player ), Jacob Turner's $ 4. 7 million signing bonus with the Detroit Tigers ( largest ever given to a high school pitcher, part of a major league contract that could pay Turner an additional $ 4 million ) and second-overall pick Dustin Ackley's $ 6 million signing bonus ( tied for the largest upfront bonus in history, part of a major league contract worth up to $ 10 million with $ 7. 5 million guaranteed ).

When Jacob L. Englehart, a wealthy pioneer London oil refiner from Cleveland, Ohio ( and future vice president of Imperial Oil ), became the president and financial backer of the Tecumsehs in late 1875, he too began looking for professional players from the U. S., later signing four Americans: first-baseman / manager George " Juice " Latham, pitcher Fred Goldsmith of New Haven, Connecticut ( believed by many to be the co-inventor of the curveball along with Candy Cummings of Ware, Massachusetts ), catcher Phil Powers and infielder / outfielder Joe Hornung ( nicknamed " Dutchy " and " Ubbo Ubbo ") from Carthage, New York.

McMullen showed the city of Houston that he too wanted a winning team, signing nearby Alvin, Texas native Nolan Ryan to the first million-dollar-a-year deal.

In the summer of 2006, during free agency, Nolan contemplated joining many teams before signing a one-year, US $ 1 million contract with the Phoenix Coyotes.

On his watch, the Mets began to strengthen their farm system, signing and developing young pitching talent: Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan, Gary Gentry, Jim McAndrew and others.

The economic war ended in 1938 with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement between both governments, after a serious of talks in London between the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, de Valera, Ryan and Sean Lemass.

McGuinty undertook a series of choreographed events, including signing a taxpayer's protection pledge not to raise taxes, and appearing on the popular sports show " Off the Record ", where he received an endorsement from Canadian Idol winner Ryan Malcolm.

Almost immediately Woods was dealt a blow when the club decided to do a u-turn and sell captain Ryan Bennett to Peterborough United for £ 500, 000 despite rejecting this offer in the summer and the player only recently signing a new four year deal.

He was accused by opponents in the party of signing up ethnic Chinese with only limited connections to the Liberal Party, many from outside the Ryan electorate, and in at least one case, outside Australia.

Ryan soon thereafter departed the Bulldogs, signing on to coach the Balmain Tigers for the 1988 season.

Following Toronto's designated player signing of Danny Koevermans Gordon became a dispensable asset and was traded along with Jacob Peterson and Nana Attakora to San Jose Earthquakes for Ryan Johnson on July 14, 2011.

However, Pulis utilised the loan market again, signing five players on loan, including Ryan Shawcross from Manchester United.

Since joining Stoke Upson and fellow summer signing Jonathan Woodgate have been used as back up to first choice centre backs Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross.

Ryan made major changes immediately, gutting the coaching staff and much of the roster, signing many of his former players from Chicago and Philadelphia to large contracts, and hiring his sons Rex and Rob as assistant coaches.

Ian Flynn, Alitha Martinez and Ryan Jampole at a September 8, 2012 signing for New Crusaders No. 1 at Midtown Comics in Manhattan.

The first issue of New Crusaders was promoted with a September 8, 2012 book signing at Midtown Comics in Manhattan, featuring Flynn, Martinez and Ryan Jampole, who illustrated a variant cover for the issue.

Before the end of the year, Ryan left to co-form Rushmore Records ( now Drive-Thru Records ) signing Houston Calls, while he was replaced by Mike Saffert.

The Dragons were coached by his father John, a former standout baseball player for the University of Texas, where Ryan was signed to play before signing a professional contract.

In 1993, Marshall reunited with Buddy Ryan, who had been the Bears ' defensive coordinator during Marshall's first two seasons, signing a contract to play for the Houston Oilers.

The Seahorses entered their ninth season in the PDL looking to recapture the form of yesteryear, but it was not to be ; despite welcoming ex-pros Josiah Snelgrove and Adam Frye back into the fold, and despite posting an impressive 6-2 victory over Bakersfield Brigade in their second game of the season in which new signing Ryan Shaw netted twice, the Seahorses began to find that the story of their season would revolve around ties.