If history can be trusted, baseball has nothing to worry about. Another strike, no sweat. Done it before.
After the 1981 baseball strike, a record 21,507,425 turned out at National League parks in 1982 and a record 23,080,449 jammed American League stadiums. Fields that lie fallow bloom come harvest time.
So why worry needlessly? baseball must wonder.
Especially after a Tribune poll taken last weekend indicates as many as 74 percent of the 400 surveyed said they would come running back to baseball after the regulars resumed play.
This sentiment was nearly equally divided at 71 percent among Cubs and White Sox fans, and 66 percent called themselves hard-core fans who watch, listen and read on a daily basis.
And yet, favorable statistics or not, the apprehensions of Philadelphia Phillies General Manager Lee Thomas cannot be so easily dismissed. History holds no comfort for him. Pass the antacid.
While he certainly finds that high number of projected returnees encouraging, as opposed to the 24 percent who insisted they wouldn’t follow the sport as much as before, his unsettled stomach isn’t eased.
He believes baseball would be foolish to assume it will be business as usual when the acrimony concludes.
“This isn’t 1982,” Thomas said. “This is the first time baseball canceled the World Series and playoffs. We’re looking at a whole different situation and we have a lot of fences to mend with the fans.
“Which means that once this is over, it better be over. We can’t have more grumbling and bickering afterward. Players and management have to cooperate and let fans know they are happy to have them back.
“How? Players can say `hi’ to fans, wave once in a while.”
Based on the poll, the possible fan erosion remains higher than any business would want to absorb-losing one in eight customers. But some of these dissenters are no doubt venting frustrations and are destined to change their minds once it’s 78 degrees, Frank Thomas is on a home-run tear and the smell of hot dogs is in the air.
Still, while some think the negative perception some fans now have of players is pleasing to management, White Sox Executive Vice President Howard Pizer strongly disagrees. As a businessman, Pizer knows the prospect of losing one fan in eight needs to be addressed as soon as management and players are talking again, instead of arguing.
“Someone said to me the other day: `Isn’t it great the fans are all mad at the players?’ ” Pizer explained. “I said: `No, it’s not great.’ Because it’s important our fans like our players. We don’t want them to dislike them. That’d be ridiculous.”
Cubs and Sox management have to take satisfaction in the high renewal rates of season ticket-holders. The Cubs have renewed 88 percent of their season tickets in recent weeks, while the Sox are at 85 percent.
Cubs ticket manager Frank Maloney and Sox ticket manager Bob Voight understand that many people have renewed tickets because they don’t want to lose long-held and choice seat locations once the dispute is resolved.
Alan Friedman, editor of Team Marketing Report, believes the marketing situation is more favorable for baseball than after the 1981 strike.
“There are more new ballparks and that has become part of the attendance appeal,” he said. “The situations in Cleveland and Texas, to mention just two, are better than 1982.
“I think teams have done a good marketing job so far in cutting prices for replacement games. This gives owners a device to show gratitude to fans that the players don’t have, and it’s players’ reputations that will need to be improved when this ends.
“In addition, replacement games could allow owners to attract new fans, people who couldn’t get tickets before or couldn’t afford the higher prices. That’s one way of looking at it, that this is one more business opportunity for them.”
Florida Marlins General Manager Dave Dombrowski says baseball players are aware of the fact they have slipped in recognition when compared with NBA and NFL stars.
“I know in conversations with our players before this happened that they knew baseball athletes needed to be more front and center in polls of recognized athletes,” Dombrowski said. “Baseball was down for a time there in young stars and now we have a lot of young talent that can be put front and center. “It doesn’t surprise me that a majority of people say in a poll they want to come back. But we can’t assume they’ll just come back in record numbers. That would be presumptuous. The economics are different than 1982. This is a larget ticket base.”
