After his discharge from the military in 1946, Owen expected to return to Brooklyn, but he failed to reach an agreement with the Dodgers and signed a contract to be a player-manager in the Mexican League, which was then outside of organized baseball and offering MLB players constrained by the reserve clause higher pay to "jump" their contracts. Other big leaguers who fled to Mexico included Alex Carrasquel, Danny Gardella, Max Lanier, Sal Maglie, Luis Olmo, Fred Martin, and (briefly) Vern Stephens, attracted by very good salaries. In retaliation for the defections, Commissioner Happy Chandler sought a lifetime suspension for all of them, although his initial penalty was later reduced to three years.