Thoughts regarding the 1994 baseball strike

So I'm working on a sports-centric timeline that I'll probably start posting later this month and I wanted to share some ideas regarding the 1994-95 baseball strike. I was researching potential ways to avoid it, and I'm surprised at how easy it would have been to do. That's not to say that the owners and players didn't have disagreements, they did. Revenue sharing, a salary cap, and the structure of free agency were all points of contention. But the owners and the players weren't so far apart that the issues couldn't have been dealt with. They arguably had larger disagreements in the mid-2000s and there were all resolved without a strike. As I see it, there are two reasons why the 1994 dispute escalated into a full-blown strike.

First, there was no permanent Commissioner at the time. After the Great Lakes Gang launched their coup against Fay Vincent in 1992, Bud Selig became Acting Commissioner as head of the owner's Executive Council. Theoretically, he was supposed to be in charge of finding a new Commissioner, but he was in no hurry to do that for obvious reasons. It wasn't until 1998 that the owner's finally dropped the ridiculous pretense and actually elected Selig Commissioner. There's a huge difference between a Commissioner and an Acting Commissioner. While they technically have the same powers, a Commissioner can only be removed from his position by a two-thirds vote of team owners. But the head of the Executive Committee is decided by simple majority and thus can be removed quite easily. In 1994, a real Commissioner would have been more secure in his position and thus could have afforded to be more conciliatory in negotiations with the players. But Selig had less room for error. He had to take a hard line with the players or risk losing his job. Instead of negotiating in good faith he basically just ended up issuing them a series of unacceptable "take-it-or-leave-it" ultimatums.

The second problem is Selig himself. Selig was a major figure in the collusion scandal of the late 1980s and as such the players trust him about as much as the Brits trusted Hitler after the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Even if Selig had been willing and able to make concessions, the players were very wary of negotiating with him. Later on, his image improved somewhat, but in 1994 Selig is probably the worst possible person to be negotiating with the players. They simply had no faith that he was going to treat them fairly and had to keep him at arms length at all times.

Thus my conclusion is that the 1994 baseball strike probably would have been avoided in any timeline in which there (a) is a permanent Commissioner that (b) is not named Bud Selig or Jerry Reinsdorf.
 
In sport field..will this help expos of montreal, their first regional, later national and possible a world league pennant? 1994 killed expos momemtum per years and never were the same and later till they become Nationals go some glory last year.

Wonder if this might keep michael jordan in baseball and out of basket, orignally he was intended to play with baltimore oriols but the strike derailed that, he take a sabbatic year, filmed space jam and was back with full glory.

And this will delay of butterflay away the post strike homerun chase?
 
About your tl, which year is the POD? and what will be of nintendo? that would butterfly away Seattle Mariners(Tampa Bay marines, Washington Senator redux) and ken griffith jr and that would be a shame
 
About your tl, which year is the POD? and what will be of nintendo? that would butterfly away Seattle Mariners(Tampa Bay marines, Washington Senator redux) and ken griffith jr and that would be a shame

My timeline is going to begin in 1992 and is basically a Bud Selig removal. I was looking for a way to prevent the strike and that seemed like the easiest way.
 
In sport field..will this help expos of montreal, their first regional, later national and possible a world league pennant? 1994 killed expos momemtum per years and never were the same and later till they become Nationals go some glory last year.

Wonder if this might keep michael jordan in baseball and out of basket, orignally he was intended to play with baltimore oriols but the strike derailed that, he take a sabbatic year, filmed space jam and was back with full glory.

And this will delay of butterflay away the post strike homerun chase?

Without going to deep into the timeline I am going to write. Yes, the Expos will be helped by the lack of a strike. However, the whole "No strike therefore the Expos survive and are great for years to come" thing is kind of a cliche in baseball circles. Like most small market teams (and Montreal did operate like a small market for baseball purposes), the Expos couldn't have maintained their core players for too long. At some point they're going to have to have a fire sale. However, with the extra playoff revenue and the increased fan interest, they could probably keep it together through the 1995 season. Additionally, when they do sell off everything, they won't have to do it all in the span of one week like they did in OTL when the strike ended. They can do it over the course of an entire offseason and hold out for some decent prospects that can help the rebuild. See the Florida Marlins after the 1997 season for a successful execution of this strategy.

Regarding Michael Jordan, he was with the White Sox, not the Orioles, But otherwise you are correct. This will delay (but not prevent) his return to basketball. He left Spring Training because he was worried he would be used as a replacement player. Otherwise, he probably stays for the 95 baseball season and then returns for the beginning of the 95-96 basketball season.
 
My timeline is going to begin in 1992 and is basically a Bud Selig removal. I was looking for a way to prevent the strike and that seemed like the easiest way.

so Mariners are safe(talk with ninty started that year) the rest would be interesting, specially with mariners, expos and mr jordan

edit: that ninja,xd but yeah,, but as you say, expos will not be killed that badly...but wonder if minessota twins will be the sacrificational lamb to washington,xd
 
so Mariners are safe(talk with ninty started that year) the rest would be interesting, specially with mariners, expos and mr jordan

edit: that ninja,xd but yeah,, but as you say, expos will not be killed that badly...but wonder if minessota twins will be the sacrificational lamb to washington,xd

Spoilers. ;)

But yes, I do have plans for Washington. I want to get a head start on writing before I start posting. But I should have the first entry up by the end of the month.
 

Caspian

Banned
so Mariners are safe(talk with ninty started that year) the rest would be interesting, specially with mariners, expos and mr jordan

edit: that ninja,xd but yeah,, but as you say, expos will not be killed that badly...but wonder if minessota twins will be the sacrificational lamb to washington,xd

The Twins return to Washington? Interesting idea...

Anyway, no Selig and a permanent commissioner would have done a lot to help the strike, but I wonder if that will still open the door to further labor problems that might prevent baseball's current market position.
 
Anyway, no Selig and a permanent commissioner would have done a lot to help the strike, but I wonder if that will still open the door to further labor problems that might prevent baseball's current market position.

It's definitely possible. The 94-95 strike and the resulting backlash really put a scare into both ownership and the players union. Every time there's been a dispute since then, there's always this ever-present feeling of "we can't have a repeat of 1994" looming in the back of everybody's mind. It's kind of like how everybody is afraid to use nukes because they saw what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Without that horrible experience to encourage compromise, people may be more willing to be stubborn and press their luck.
 
I like it - I am an Indians fan and they were on their way to their first playoff appearance in decades when the strike happened.
 
Top