The possibility of minor-league ballplayers filling Opening Day major-league rosters is one every general manager dreads yet must consider while plotting an uncertain course for 1995.
That’s just one problem confronting major-league baseball. The day after the baseball season was canceled was an eventful one.
New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden reportedly tested positive for drugs again. Kansas City manager Hal McRae was fired, following Texas GM Tom Grieve as the first post-cancellation casualties. Jackie Autry denied a report that she and her husband, Gene, would sell the California Angels once the labor dispute is over. The Los Angeles Times had reported the Autrys were asking $130 million for a team Gene purchased for $3 million in 1961. Jackie said they only were selling a minority interest in the club.
News aside, White Sox GM Ron Schueler said there are three scenarios for which he must prepare while contemplating the unknown:
Either all Triple-A players will be invited to spring training; camp will be open to minor-leaguers and any striking players who care to return; or it will not open at all.
So, unless a collective-bargaining agreement is reached in the coming months, it appears the chance of minor-leaguers’ being given an opportunity to take the jobs of their major-league brethren is better than 50-50.
Would minor-leaguers cross picket lines to play out their dreams, or would they honor the striking players by refusing to become “replacement players” next spring?
“There’s a lot of guys down there who never had the opportunity to play in the big leagues,” Schueler said. “The majority would say, `This might be my only hurrah.’ I’d guess some would take advantage of it. A lot of guys did when pro football went out, and some are still making money in the NFL. One of them (Erik Kramer) plays quarterback for the Bears.”
Minor-leaguers might be reluctant to become replacement players knowing major-leaguers would treat them with contempt if, and when, they returned to their teams. Schueler discounted that, believing the money and the pursuit of the American dream would outweigh their concerns.
“Better to be a scab and get a chance to play in big leagues than to never have had the opportunities,” he said.
Striking major-leaguers realize this is a scenario that will grow more and more likely as each day passes without a settlement. But many believe the minor-leaguers will honor the strike because they are all members of the same player fraternity.
“We wouldn’t do that to the guys who went out in ’81,” said Cubs first baseman Mark Grace. “We wouldn’t do that to future ballplayers. Future ballplayers are trusting us to stay unified so players will still have the benefits we have when they’re playing.
“The owners can try it all they want. If people support it, they’ll support it. I really don’t think that will happen, because they’re going to have to do more than that to break the union. They can have all the scab games they want.”
Meanwhile, ballclubs began the daunting task of refunding ticket-holders for all remaining games. Sox and Cubs officials said they will begin to reimburse fans as quickly as possible.
Curious Illinois taxpayers wondered whether the cancellation means they will have to subsidize the Sox for their rent payments in new Comiskey Park. State officials said last month the owners of the Sox will pay only half as much rent on Comiskey Park as the $3 million they paid in ’93.
Illinois Sports Facilities Authority executive director Tim Romani denied taxpayers will be affected.
“They think that if the Sox pay less rent, the public has to make up the difference,” Romani said. “That’s not the case. This is just another revenue stream for the Sports Authority. We’d like (the rent) to be as high as possible, but it doesn’t make us insolvent or affect our ability to function financially.”
The Sox drew about 1.7 million fans in the shortened season. Under their lease, they do not have to pay any rent if they draw fewer than 1.2 million. For every ticket purchased past 1.2 million, the Sox turn over $3.01 to the Authority. For every ticket past 2 million, an additional $1.80 per ticket is added onto the payment.
The Authority also pays the Sox $2 million each year for “maintenance” fees. Romani said the Authority still will provide that maintenance “irrespective of baseball.”
Would it be fair to pay the Sox $2 million if there is no baseball played in ’95?
“Absolutely,” Romani said, estimating the total maintenance bill as between $5 million to $6 million.
On Thursday, angered fans began to accept the reality that the ’94 season is over.
“Baseball must be a great game,” Hall-of-Famer Bill Veeck once said, “because the owners haven’t been able to kill it.”
Mary Frances Veeck, wife of the late Sox owner, said she doesn’t think this turn of events will “kill” the game.
“I still think that’s true,” she said. “I think it’ll survive.”
Mary Frances, who met Bill 45 years ago Wednesday-the day the ’94 season was canceled-feels a salary cap would be “un-American.” But she noted that Bill Veeck was behind the move for revenue sharing back when he owned the Cleveland Indians.
“He took a small team in Cleveland and made it a rich club,” she said. “After we married, he bought the St. Louis Browns, then put in a plan and asked for clubs to pool their money. That was turned down. The Yankees weren’t gonna stand still for that, or Chicago (White Sox), either.
“Most young people don’t know this, but when Bert Bell was the (NFL) commissioner, he called Bill about his revenue-sharing plan, and that’s the basis of what they used.”
Keeping small-market teams afloat is at the crux of the owners’ proposal for revenue sharing and a salary cap. Bill Veeck was a master at bringing fans out to watch subpar teams. His wife thinks some small-market clubs today could make it if they were better salesmen.
“There are some clubs that are maybe not doing well that don’t know how to sell,” she said. “Not that they don’t work, but I’m not sure they know how to work their market.”
