Word: striking
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...wonder, then, that the fans were loudly unsympathetic when the athletes' union went on strike last week. "The players are greedy," groused St. Louis Cardinal Rooter Greg Errion. "They have no regard for the fans. It's 'What can I get for me today?' The luster of ballplayers as American heroes has dulled." Nor did the fans feel very sorry for the owners, who, despite their poor-mouthing, toss about millions of dollars, largely, it sometimes seems, for the privilege of hanging about their employees' locker room...
...sheer cost of the walkout: on average, $2,000 a day in salary per athlete, $1.17 million a day in revenue per owner. In any case, the players had barely finished packing up their gloves and blow-dryers to head home last week when word filtered out that the strike was over. By Thursday, two days after the lights had gone out at ball parks across the country, the cracking bats and beery roar of major-league baseball again filled the muggy August air. Boston Bartender Michael Shain approved. "People don't want to read about contract and salary disputes...
Though the strike was fought over such accountants' terrain as TV-revenue shares and profit-loss sheets, the real issue was the shifting balance of power between the players and the owners. For about a century the players were professional gladiators, glorified by the fans and the press, to be sure, but held in bondage by the owners. Until the early '70s, players had little alternative to taking what was offered except to become a holdout. Salaries were relatively low, even for established stars. In 1954 M.V.P. Willie Mays earned $25,000, about the equivalent of what a utility infielder...
...accountants fenced, the talks drifted listlessly, and the Aug. 6 strike deadline loomed. The players and owners remained far apart on two major issues. Under the old contract a player could take a salary dispute to arbitration after he had played in the majors for two years. The owners wanted to raise the eligibility requirement to three years and limit any salary increase to 100%. The players refused to budge from the status quo. The other sticking point came over pensions. Traditionally the owners have given one-third of national television and radio revenue to the players' pension fund. With...
Commissioner Ueberroth formally entered the negotiations only after the key compromises had been made, but the final five-year agreement closely resembles a package he had started pushing a week before the strike deadline. Ueberroth chose to take a more visible role in the negotiations than did his predecessor Bowie Kuhn during the 1981 players' strike, which lasted 50 days. Indeed, Kuhn had kept such a low profile that reporters blackly joked that the strike never would have happened if Kuhn had been alive. Like most past baseball commissioners, Kuhn was widely regarded as the owners' man, hired...