1994-+MLB+Strike+g4

=Major League Baseball Strike of 1994=

Overview
The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was the eighth work stoppage in baseball history, as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage in 23 years. The 232-day strike, which lasted from August 12, 1994, to April 2, 1995, led to the cancellation of between 931 and 948 games overall, including the entire 1994 postseason and World Series. The cancellation of the 1994 World Series was the first since 1904, leading Major League Baseball to became the first professional sport to lose its entire postseason due to a labor dispute. Owners demanded a salary cap in response to the worsening financial situation in baseball and ownerships claimed that small-market clubs would fall by the wayside unless teams agreed to share local broadcasting revenues and enact a salary cap, a proposal that the players adamantly opposed. On January 18, 1994, the owners approved a new revenue-sharing plan keyed to a salary cap, which required the players’ approval. The following day, the owners amended the Major League agreement by giving complete power to the commissioner on labor negotiations.

Central Issue
As negotiations continued to heat up, the owners decided to withhold $7.8 million that they were required to pay per previous agreement into the players' pension and benefit plans. On July 26, the Players Association executive board set August 12, 1994 as a strike date. When that day came, the players went ahead with their threat to walk off the job. On August 31, three-and-a-half hours of negotiations with federal mediators produced no progress in the strike, and no further talks were scheduled as the strike went into its 4th week. According to then-acting commissioner Bud Selig, September 9 was the tentative deadline for canceling the rest of the season if no agreement was reached between the owners and players. The rest of the season, including the World Series, was called off by Bud Selig on September 14. Selig acknowledged that the strike had torn an irreparable hole in the game's fabric. The move to cancel the rest of the season meant the loss of $580 million in ownership revenue and $230 million in player salaries. In 1994, the average MLB salary was an estimated $1.2 million. Chicago White Sox star Frank Thomas, who wound up winning the American League's Most Valuable Player Award in 1994, said //"//I've had a career year, but I'm not going to finish it." Tony Gwynn had a chance to be the first to finish a season over .400 since Ted Williams, as he was batting .394 at the time of the strike. The strike also cost Matt Williams of the San Francisco Giants a chance to beat Roger Maris' single season home run record. When the strike forced the cancellation of the remaining 47 games of the season, Williams had already hit 43 home runs, well on pace to top Maris' single season record of 61 home runs.

Conclusion
On March 29, the players voted to return to work if a U.S. District Court judge supported the National Labor Relations Board's unfair labor practices complaint against the owners. On Sunday, April 2, 1995, the day before the season was scheduled to start, the 232 day long strike was finally over. The 1995 season, which was revised to 144 games instead of the normal, began on April 25 under the conditions of the expired contract despite the lack of a collective bargaining agreement. On Opening Day in 1995, three men, who were each wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the word "Greed," leaped onto the field at Shea Stadium and tossed more than $150 in $1 bills at players. At this time America's past time had been tarnished by the greed of players and their owners, but today baseball has returned as America's past time but still has its flaws.