There was a great article in Sports Illustrated last week about something that "celebrates" its 20th anniversary this year, even though most of us would prefer to forget about it entirely. But it's impossible to forget, especially as Spring Training games get underway and Major League Baseball's 20th consecutive season of labor peace begins, that in 1995, there were two Spring Trainings. One involved actual Major Leaguers. Then there was the other one.
Nobody will ever forget the Strike. It's a black mark that the game will never be able to escape. It's directly because of the Strike that there was no World Series in 1994. And as fall turned into winter and 1994 turned into 1995, the owners and players still didn't have a deal. As the normal time for Spring Training approached and the players continued to refuse the owners' demands for a salary cap, the owners came up with what they thought was a great idea. Replacement players. The season was going to start on time with or without a deal. If the union didn't want to go to Spring Training, the owners would sign-up the best players willing and available.
It was likely a scare tactic designed to get the players to agree to the salary cap. But it badly backfired on the owners. It did accomplish the objective of ending the strike, albeit overwhelmingly in the players' favor, so I guess in that regard the Replacement Spring was a good thing. But in every aspect, it was an embarrassment to our great game. Where were the real Major Leaguers? Who were these imposters? Fortunately we never had to find out.
My memories of the Spring of 1995 are limited. And that's a good thing. But I do know this, if the owners had gotten their way and started the season with replacement players, the game never would've been the same. The relationship with the players' union would've been permanently destroyed. Probably beyond repair. The owners didn't trust the players. The players really didn't trust the owners, and this just added more fuel to that fire.
When the NFL players went on strike in 1987, the owners used replacement players for three weeks before reaching an agreement with the union. In hindsight, I think everyone realized that was a mistake. You messed with the integrity of the season by having three games played with subpar talent. And that's not to mention how unfair it was to the fans who had to watch games that were of far lesser quality than they were used to.
But at least the NFL had a somewhat decent talent pool to choose from in 1987. The USFL had just folded, the CFL had plenty of players that still had NFL dreams, and there were a number of rookies that had just been cut during training camp and would be more than willing to play during the strike. The NFL also benefitted from a number of veterans who chose to be strikebreakers and play alongside the replacements.
You were never going to get Major League Baseball strikebreakers in the Spring of 1995. And the best players in the Minors were going to side with the Big Leaguers. That meant the "best players available" were a bunch of has-beens and a bunch of never-weres. Sure, it would've led to some nice stories, but for the most part, these guys either never made it or were already out of baseball for a reason. Some players, most notably Kevin Millar and Shane Spencer, used being a replacement as their big break. They were lucky enough to stick on with their teams even after the Strike ended and went on to win World Series rings, but even that had a cost. Millar, Spencer and all other replacement players were never allowed to join the union or appear on things like championship t-shirts. All because they were "scrubs" in the Spring of 1995. Of course, I'm sure that's a deal they were more than willing to take, though.
The Replacement Spring could've led to some unique situations had it turned into the Replacement Season. Sparky Anderson was effectively fired by the Tigers because he refused to manage the replacement players. (He resigned at the end of the season and never managed again.) The Orioles, likely influenced by Cal Ripken's consecutive games streak that was currently on hold, refused to field a replacement team altogether. (The streak would've ended had Baltimore played any official games without him.) Meanwhile, since it's illegal under Ontario Labor Law to replace striking workers, the Blue Jays were preparing to play the season at their Spring Training complex in Dunedin, Fla. (Since that's an Ontario provincial law and not a Canadian federal law, the Expos would've been fine to use replacements in Montreal.)
Fortunately, we didn't get to that point. We came close, but Judge Sonia Sotomayor ruled in favor of the players two days before the season was scheduled to start, effectively ending the Strike. The real players returned to work shortly thereafter and the season, which was shortened to 144 games, began in late April. It's what was best for everyone involved. Because the fans never would've forgiven either side if replacement players had taken the field in official games.
In hindsight, the Replacement Spring might've been a good thing. It certainly was an embarrassment, but it also served as the impetus to finally end the Strike. And with the Strike over and the players ultimately declared the "winners," it got the owners to, once and for all, drop the idea of a salary cap. A subject that's never been broached again. Major League Baseball remains the only major professional sport without a salary cap, which, in a strange way, is why baseball's the one sport that doesn't have the constant labor tensions that plague the other three.
I'm not sure what would've happened had the use of replacement players extended beyond Spring Training in 1995. (Maybe there still wouldn't be a deal between the owners and the players union.) The Replacement Spring is a part of the game's history. It's an embarrassing chapter, yes, but I choose to find the silver lining that came out of the Replacement Spring. It's been 20 years and there's been labor peace ever since. If I'd told you that in 1995, you would've thought I was crazy.
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