The Strike of '94

The 1994 baseball season was cut short without a post season. It would be the first time in 90 years that baseball would go without a World Series.

The 1994 baseball strike to most, including me was inevitable. Why would the players agree to what the owners were proposing. It was the players that would be taking the hit.

The owners wanted a 50% cut of revenues to players, they wanted a salary cap, and wanted to end salary arbitration. "What the owners are saying," said Don Fehr, "is that they'll do revenue-sharing as long as the players pay for it with a salary cap."

Bob Boone, who was the Cincinnati Reds manager, and a longtime union stalwart, was worried. His thoughts were that the players who were rich, didn't want to give back any money. The owners, whose pride took more of a hit than their pockets, wanted to get control back once again.

"There are no deal-makers," Boone said, "Both sides are confrontational, and theres never a ground where a deal can be made."

Obviously that was a true statement. The players would reject the salary cap. The players had good reason in 1994 to reject the cap. The cap wasn't fairing so well in the NFL, and NBA. The NBA players union wanted the ten-year-old-cap dropped. There was little market for the players' service, and most teams had little to no room under their cap.

The date set for the strike was August 12. Whichever side one is on, nobody could deny the great season that was just going to end abruptly. Matt Williams and Ken Griffey Jr. were both making a run at Maris's sixty-one homer record. Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 and was threatening to be the first to hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941. Frank Thomas was making a serious run at the triple crown, and Greg Maddux had 16 wins and an ERA of 1.56.

26 of the 28 owners supported a resolution that would end the 1994 season.

The strike tested the loyalty of baseball fans. There was no guarantee that they would be back the next year. There was no guarantee that there would be season ticket buyers or TV rights because there was no guarantee that there would be a season in 1995.

What was in play was a luxury-tax proposal. What it essentially was, it would tax the richest teams and that money would trickle down to the smaller markets. That would be in place instead of the salary cap. That way the sides could meet almost in the middle. The owners really didn't have a choice. A deal had to be done in order to have a '95 season. With a deal done, season tickets could start being sold, TV rights could be negotiated, and the only thing in question would be the fans. Would they come back? Ultimately, yes they would. Baseball would be a completely different game today with revenue-sharing and a salary cap. Sure the fans didn't want a strike, but fans of larger market teams wouldn't have approved very much of the game had the players agreed in the first place.

Basically the fans missed out on half a season to keep baseball the way it should be. It's just a shame it had to happen in the amazing season of 1994. In the end, the strike was inevitable, and purpose driven. It had to happen.