@MarkKnudson41
The last time there was a work stoppage in Major League Baseball, it wiped out the 1994 World Series and provided the jumping off point for one of the biggest blunders of all time: MLB owners deciding to field teams of replacement players.
The situation was a little different back then. The MLB Players, unhappy with the status and progress of on-going negotiations with the Owners on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (the previous agreement had expired at the end of December 1993) went out on strike on August 12th, 1994. The Players had the leverage then, having collected most of their salaries for that season while knowing that the bulk of the Owners revenue included the upcoming post season. They also knew the Owners were planning to implement a salary cap and other things the Players were steadfastly against, so they took their stand where they could and reluctantly walked out. As a result of the impasse, almost 1,000 regular season games and the entire post season were canned.
It was a dark time for the sport. And it got darker still the following spring.
That standstill in negotiations – worse than what we are seeing right now – continued into the early part of 1995, when the Owners (whose doors were not locked then like they are now) decided they would make a go of that upcoming season without the Players Union. On January 13th they decided they would go out and solicit replacements. I believe “scabs” is the term most union’s use in this situation.
I’d retired as a player during the 1993 season. I was in my mid 30’s and had been out for less than two years. Myself and others in my situation were ideal candidates to become replacement players. I got several calls, and so did a number of former teammates. As members of the Player’s Union (as well as the MLB Players Alumni Association) it would have been a serious breach of trust for me or anyone else in my situation to cross the current players virtual picket line and sign up to be a scab. There were things like long standing relationships and pension benefits that would be put in serious jeopardy. The smattering of current and former big leaguers who agreed to become replacements paid a stiff price later on.
I never considered becoming a replacement player. I was polite but firm in turning down the invites, a couple of them coming from close friends within the game. The late great Bus Campbell, my long time mentor and dear friend, was still employed as an MLB scout at the time. He was obligated to ask…but I think he was pleased when I said no. “I didn’t think you would,” Bus chuckled. “But I had to ask.”
Others, like my former Milwaukee Brewers teammate Don August, were still trying to get back to the legitimate big leagues, so calls from scouts were still a big deal to he and others like him. After failing to get a single offer from an MLB club the prior off season (he spent the bulk of the 1994 season pitching in Mexico before getting a brief end of the season shot in the San Diego minor league system) Don fielded more than a dozen calls over the winter, with scouts promising an invite to (real) spring training (when and if it happened) and a job in Triple A as a minimum. Don signed a Triple A contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates with the understanding that he was NOT going to be asked to be a replacement player.
That turned out to be a lie.
When push came to shove, the Pirates asked/threatened him anyway, right in the middle of minor league camp. Don held his ground and said no. He ended up getting released rather than getting the job he’d been promised in Triple A when the Players strike ended on April 2nd and the real big leaguers returned to camps.
Using replacement players was a stupid idea to begin with. The NFL had tried it eight years earlier, and it bombed there as well. The level of play was not even close…not up to Double A standards in baseball, and even coaches hated it. Detroit’s Hall of Fame Manager Sparky Anderson was suspended because he refused to manage the replacements. The pay was meager – replacements got a $5,000 signing bonus for reporting and another $5K if they made the opening day roster. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig held his nose and told the media, “We are committed to playing the 1995 season with the best players willing to play.” Still, the Baltimore Orioles refused to field a replacement team. The Toronto Blue Jays were not allowed to play games with scabs in Canada. They had to stay and play in Florida.
In the end, some exhibition games were played with scabs – including the first baseball game ever played at Coors Field between the replacement Colorado Rockies and the replacement New York Yankees – but no regular season games. The Player’s strike came to an end – with the help of US District Courts – one day before the replacement regular season was to begin. Thankfully.
That group of MLB Owners – none of whom is involved in this round of CBA talks (the Rockies Dick Monfort was technically a minority owner back then but was not active in negotiations) – made a huge mistake, and it swung public sentiment and all of the momentum over to the Players Union. When the next agreement was finally reached, there was no salary cap…and never has been.
Fast forward 26 years. This group of owners, while refusing to negotiate in good faith to this point, haven’t brought up the idea of using replacement players, which is a plus. They must know at least a little about baseball history.
Come to think of it, they probably couldn’t anyway, given that when they finally do lift the lockout, the real players can and will return, thankfully. Hopefully that’s pretty soon.
Be sure to catch Mark Knudson and Manny Randhawa on the Park Adjusted Rockies Podcast each week, available on all major Podcast platforms.