Thursday, August 12, 2004
THE STRIKE
August 12, 1994
The day Major League Baseball changed forever.
I was 12 years old when the strike hit baseball. Needless to say, I was crushed. The baseball strike of 1994 was a cold hard slap in the face to me. From that day on, I realized that baseball wasn't just a game, it was a business.
It's beneficial to look back on the 1994 season and see what events were affected by the strike:
---The World Series was cancelled.
---Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 at the time of the strike.
---Matt Williams had hit 43 home runs by August 12 and was on pace to break Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs.
---The Montreal Expos were 74-40, leading Atlanta in the National League East by 6 games. Baseball in Montreal would never be the same after the strike. However, it is important to note that baseball was already in trouble in Montreal before the strike.
---The Mariners were just 2 1/2 games back of the Texas Rangers in the American League West. They had won 9 out of their last 10 games before the strike.
The baseball strike of 1994 was also responsible for the death of baseball cards, at least in my mind. Since 1994, I have bought only a handful of baseball cards, mainly single cards. The prices of cards are downright ridiculous today. Who in their right mind would pay $2.99 for a pack of 8 cards? Come on.
Baseball would not come back to the national landscape on the field until April 1995. The 1995 season was shortened to 144 regular season games. Of course, in the Mariners case, it was 145 games.
What did the strike do to baseball in Seattle? It's fair to say that Seattle is one of the few markets that actually had major success after the strike. When the strike hit on August 12, the Mariners were on the road because of the Kingdome ceiling tiles incident. The 1995 Mariners helped baseball get back on its feet. While Cal Ripken, Jr. is lauded for breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak in 1995, it was the Mariners who were able to bring some fans back to the game. The Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase in 1998 brought even more fans back.
However, 10 years later, there are still people who have not supported baseball since the strike. While the game of baseball has been great in previous seasons, I would be kidding myself if the game wasn't great before the strike hit. I do miss the pre-strike era of baseball. But I also know that particular era of baseball will never come back.
Since the strike of 1994, there have been 13 new ballparks that have opened in America. Baseball also expanded to 30 teams in 1998, with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Salaries have increased in the past 10 years. FOX paid $2.5 billion to televise Major League Baseball in 2000, a deal that is up after the 2006 season. The network has televised baseball since 1996.
While baseball has had success in the past 10 years since the strike, there has been failure as well. The youth of America are not as interested in baseball as in previous years. There was talk of contracting the Minnesota Twins. The Expos are most likely headed to the Washington, D.C. area after this season.
Baseball narrowly avoided having another work stoppage almost 2 years ago. If the strike of 1994 didn't kill baseball as we know it, the 2002 work stoppage may have very well done it. But thank God it didn't
As for current news of labor in professional sports, the National Hockey League is more than likely headed down the unfortunate road of a work stoppage. Their CBA ends on September 15, and barring any last-second miracle, there won't be any hockey for a while. I want to feel confident about the issue, but as the days keep going by, I don't know what's going to happen. Hockey is an different boat in 2004 than baseball was in 1994. If the NHL were to miss out on the 2004-2005 season altogether, it could kill the sport. But hopefully we won't have to worry about that happening.
Wow, I've gone through almost this entire post without mentioning Bud Selig and Donald Fehr. Well, I guess I just mentioned them. Damn.
We have ourselves some day baseball today, with Ryan Franklin going against Johan Santana at the Safe later this afternoon.
As always, leave your thoughts in the comments box below or e-mail me (address over on the top of the sidebar). I'm sure the majority of the people who read Sports and B's have an opinion on the 1994 baseball strike.
The day Major League Baseball changed forever.
I was 12 years old when the strike hit baseball. Needless to say, I was crushed. The baseball strike of 1994 was a cold hard slap in the face to me. From that day on, I realized that baseball wasn't just a game, it was a business.
It's beneficial to look back on the 1994 season and see what events were affected by the strike:
---The World Series was cancelled.
---Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 at the time of the strike.
---Matt Williams had hit 43 home runs by August 12 and was on pace to break Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs.
---The Montreal Expos were 74-40, leading Atlanta in the National League East by 6 games. Baseball in Montreal would never be the same after the strike. However, it is important to note that baseball was already in trouble in Montreal before the strike.
---The Mariners were just 2 1/2 games back of the Texas Rangers in the American League West. They had won 9 out of their last 10 games before the strike.
The baseball strike of 1994 was also responsible for the death of baseball cards, at least in my mind. Since 1994, I have bought only a handful of baseball cards, mainly single cards. The prices of cards are downright ridiculous today. Who in their right mind would pay $2.99 for a pack of 8 cards? Come on.
Baseball would not come back to the national landscape on the field until April 1995. The 1995 season was shortened to 144 regular season games. Of course, in the Mariners case, it was 145 games.
What did the strike do to baseball in Seattle? It's fair to say that Seattle is one of the few markets that actually had major success after the strike. When the strike hit on August 12, the Mariners were on the road because of the Kingdome ceiling tiles incident. The 1995 Mariners helped baseball get back on its feet. While Cal Ripken, Jr. is lauded for breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak in 1995, it was the Mariners who were able to bring some fans back to the game. The Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase in 1998 brought even more fans back.
However, 10 years later, there are still people who have not supported baseball since the strike. While the game of baseball has been great in previous seasons, I would be kidding myself if the game wasn't great before the strike hit. I do miss the pre-strike era of baseball. But I also know that particular era of baseball will never come back.
Since the strike of 1994, there have been 13 new ballparks that have opened in America. Baseball also expanded to 30 teams in 1998, with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Salaries have increased in the past 10 years. FOX paid $2.5 billion to televise Major League Baseball in 2000, a deal that is up after the 2006 season. The network has televised baseball since 1996.
While baseball has had success in the past 10 years since the strike, there has been failure as well. The youth of America are not as interested in baseball as in previous years. There was talk of contracting the Minnesota Twins. The Expos are most likely headed to the Washington, D.C. area after this season.
Baseball narrowly avoided having another work stoppage almost 2 years ago. If the strike of 1994 didn't kill baseball as we know it, the 2002 work stoppage may have very well done it. But thank God it didn't
As for current news of labor in professional sports, the National Hockey League is more than likely headed down the unfortunate road of a work stoppage. Their CBA ends on September 15, and barring any last-second miracle, there won't be any hockey for a while. I want to feel confident about the issue, but as the days keep going by, I don't know what's going to happen. Hockey is an different boat in 2004 than baseball was in 1994. If the NHL were to miss out on the 2004-2005 season altogether, it could kill the sport. But hopefully we won't have to worry about that happening.
Wow, I've gone through almost this entire post without mentioning Bud Selig and Donald Fehr. Well, I guess I just mentioned them. Damn.
We have ourselves some day baseball today, with Ryan Franklin going against Johan Santana at the Safe later this afternoon.
As always, leave your thoughts in the comments box below or e-mail me (address over on the top of the sidebar). I'm sure the majority of the people who read Sports and B's have an opinion on the 1994 baseball strike.
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