...
in Japan!
Gist: officials are looking to merge two teams into one, something to do w/ bleed of Japanese players to MLB. Japanese players threatening to not play, wait for it, weekend games.
I think we might've talked about it in the Kaz Sasaki thread, but riddle me this: is the migration of Japanese leaguers, in the end, a good thing for Baseball?
― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 22:32 (nineteen years ago) link
integration in baseball is definitely a good thing; however, the MLB is a pretty fucked up venture. what can you do?
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 22:43 (nineteen years ago) link
fourteen years pass...
25th anniv of the epic strike/lockout of '94-95
Gene Orza (MLBPA associate general counsel/COO):
They [the owners] were gunning for a stoppage. It goes back to 1990. The Basic Agreement was completed that year in the old conference room in the commissioner's office. The executive council was in New York; they were all in [commissioner] Fay Vincent's office. We had a deal, we were packing up our stuff, when I heard them screaming and yelling at the commissioner. I could hear them from 60 feet away. I said to [Mark] Belanger [who worked for the union], "Well, this one is done, but the next one is going to be worse."
I knew in 1990 that Fay was on the ropes. Bud was going to take it over. Bud fancied himself as the great negotiator. He had a salary cap on his mind. And he was going to show everyone how to get it.
On the day that they canceled the World Series, there was laughter coming out of that room. They were laughing, they were happy that they were able to hold the group together. They weren't happy that the World Series was canceled, no one wanted that, but they held to their strategy to hold firm because this was going to take the players into the offseason, and they were going to bang them with replacement players. Aug. 12 was not a big deal to me because I knew we were going on strike because we had no alternative. They were going to get a salary cap. That was their objective.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27161035/oh-my-god-how-do-oral-history-1994-mlb-strike