Wrong kind of "strike"

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Chevrolet may argue, but "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and work stoppages," rolls off the tongue almost as easily as the old car commercial. According to Sports Illustrated, since 1972 there have been eight work stoppages, but on this date in 1973 the news was good. The players' union and team owners announced a new three year agreement ending a lockout by the owners right at the start of spring training.

The 1973 agreement instituted what has become as common as the hit & run - arbitration. After so many years in the league a player who couldn't agree on a salary with his team could take the issue to arbitration.

Considering what happened a year earlier, a strike right at the start of the regular season, everyone was relieved. Players and owners alike knew fans were becoming disenchanted, or worse, indifferent, to the annual spring labor rituals.

Baseball didn't learn however, there were work stoppages in 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990 and a devastating strike in 1994-95 that wiped out the entire post-season including the World Series.

Contributing sources:
Herschel Nissenson, Associated Press (AP), The Gettysburg Times, February 26, 1973
Sports Illustrated, May 25, 2002

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