Abigail adams urges husband to remember the ladies

Several years ago, the Major League Baseball players' association went on strike in September, just before the World Series started. The players' contracts expired at the beginning of the season (May), but they held off the strike until September when they would lose only one-sixth of their salaries. In contrast, a September strike would hurt the owners financially because they earn a larger portion of their revenue during the playoffs. As one player explained: “If we strike next spring, there's nothing stopping [the club owners] from letting us go until next June or July because they don't have that much at stake.”

Use your knowledge of the sources and contingencies of power to explain why the MLB baseball players' association had more power in negotiations by walking out in September rather than March.

Cite the text to support your ideas in an essay with a minimum of 300 words in APA format.

Citation

MLB strike free ... for 10 years and prospering. (2004, August 10). ESPN.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1856626

Longest strike in Major League Baseball history ends. (n.d.). History.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/longest-strike-in-major-league-baseball-history-ends

Staudohar, P. (1997, March 1). The Baseball Strike of 1994-95. . Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDoQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstats.bls.gov%2FOPUB%2FMLR%2F1997%2F03%2Fart4full.pdf&ei=vDmeU6KlBo_woASJ2YHoDQ&usg=AFQjCNE1C1Hz7SagOHBBriuA7hAEjfALjw&bvm=bv.68911936,d.cGU

LEAD STORY

Eiffel Tower opens, 1889

AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Abigail Adams urges

husband to "remember the

ladies", 1776

AUTOMOTIVE

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namesake, dies, 1931

CIVIL WAR

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near Dinwiddie Court

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uncovered in New Mexico,

1999

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peak flood level, 1973

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signed with Japan, 1854

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LITERARY

First installment of The

Pickwick Papers, Dickens'

first novel, 1836

MUSIC

Oklahoma! premieres on

Broadway, 1943

OLD WEST

Western novelist Vardis

Fisher born, 1895

PRESIDENTIAL

Abigail Adams asks her

husband to "remember the

ladies", 1776

SPORTS

Legendary UCLA

basketball coach John

Wooden wins 10th

national title, 1975

Longest strike in Major

League Baseball history

ends, 1995

VIETNAM WAR

Johnson publicly denies

actions contemplated in

Vietnam, 1965

Sports AAA Cite This RSS

March 31

Mar 31, 1995:

Longest strike in Major League Baseball history ends

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Major League Baseball players are sent back to work after the longest strike in baseball

history ends on this day in 1995. Because of the strike, the 1994 World Series was

cancelled; it was the first time baseball did not crown a champion in 89 years.

During the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement, tensions between

owners and players had arisen over the owners’ desire to institute a cap on player

salaries. Claiming financial hardship, owners argued that player salaries, which had risen

exponentially since the 1970s, had become unsustainable and, if not contained, would

bankrupt the teams. The players, led by union head Donald Fehr, refused to agree to a

cap; they pointed out that they had been underpaid for most of the sport’s history and

called salary caps just the latest form of exploitation by owners.

Until 1975, players were subject to a reserve clause that tied each player to one team for

their career, destroying any free market and keeping player salaries artificially low. After

the reserve clause was abolished in arbitration, free agency drove salaries up, as owners

were forced to bid against one another for players’ services. After the 1985 season,

owners agreed in secret not to sign one another’s players, and all 28 major league teams

sat idly by during the next three off-seasons. Upon discovering the conspiracy, the

players’ union sued and won a $280 million judgment.

When the collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the

Players Association expired in 1994, bad blood remained and negotiations over a new

deal soon turned sour. On August 12, owners locked the players out, and the rest of the

1994 season was cancelled. Long-suffering fans in Montreal and Yankee fans in New

York were especially disappointed, as their teams led the National League and American

League, respectively, at the time of the lock-out.

In December 1994, President Clinton met with the lead negotiators of both sides, to no

avail. Toward the end of March, on the eve of the new baseball season, 28 of 30 owners

voted to field replacement teams, but on March 31, Judge Sonia Sontomayor stepped in,

issuing an injunction against owners from locking players out. Finally, on April 2, 1995, the

players returned to work.

Baseball’s fans were not forgiving. Attendance in 1995 was the lowest in years, dropping

from an average 31,000 per game in 1993 to just 25,000. Fans picketed at opening day

games, angry at players and owners alike. Thankfully for baseball, "The Iron Man" Cal

Ripken’s breaking of Lou Gehrig’s streak for consecutive games played on September 6,

1995, finally broke the ice. Ripken’s incredible work ethic and commitment to the game is

said to have saved baseball’s place in the hearts of fans.

The collective bargaining agreement between players and owners was not renewed until

1996. When that agreement expired in 2002, owners and players, having learned the

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Johnson announces

bombing halt, 1968

Fighting intensifies with

North Vietnamese

offensive, 1972

WORLD WAR I

The First Moroccan Crisis,

1905

WORLD WAR II

Germany's Atlantis

launches, 1940 March 31

Mar 31, 1975 Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden wins 10th national title

Mar 31, 1995 Longest strike in Major League Baseball history ends

Apr 01, 1985 Villanova beats Georgetown for NCAA basketball championship

Apr 02, 1977 Red Rum wins record third Grand National

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unforgiving nature of their fans in 1995, were able to ratify a new deal without a work

stoppage.

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