In 1994, the baseball season suddenly ended on August 11th.
On August 11th, 1994, the last games of the 1994 season took place. The Major League Baseball Players Association went on strike the next day. The issue in 1994? Same as today. Major League Baseball owners wanted to implement a salary cap on the players. Some of the other parts of the owners plan included provisions the players would not accept. Salary arbitration would have been eliminated, free agency would begin after four years rather than six, and owners would have retained the right to keep a four or five year player by matching his best offer. The talks between the owners and players dragged on after a June 14th, 1994 owners’ proposal. On July 28th, 1994, the Players Association executive board set August 12th, 1994, as a strike date.
The deadline came and the players walked. There were few words exchanged between the sides until August 31st when a federal mediator entered the negotiations. That failed. On September 8th, the Players Association came up with a proposal but that was rejected by the owners. It was crunch time for both sides. The 1994 playoffs could be played if an agreement was reached almost immediately. On September 14th, the Acting Major League Baseball Commissioner and the Milwaukee Brewers franchise owner Bud Selig announced that there would be no playoffs. For the first time since 1904 there would be no World Series. The talks would continue and there would be an Oval Office bargaining session with President Bill Clinton presiding over a bargaining session. Congress wanted to get involved. The 1995 spring training season opened with replacement players. The strike ended on April 2nd, 1995 after Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a preliminary injunction against the owners on March 31st, 1995. In 2025, the two sides are at it again.
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