On This Date in Sports February 17, 1995: Replacement Spring

In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com

Detroit Tigers Manager Sparky Anderson announces that he will not report to Spring Training as long as replacement players are used. The calendar is saying it is time for pitchers and catchers, but the strike that began on August 12, 1994, and wiped out the World Series, has yet to be settled, leading owners to enforce their conditions and open camps with scabs. The move proved to be a significant miscalculation as it allowed the Players' Association to confirm that MLB was negotiating in bad faith. 

 

The 1994 Baseball season ended on August 12th when players walked out for their fourth in-season strike. This one would be the big one, as the postseason and World Series were canceled as owners and players both entrenched for a long battle. Following baseball’s nuclear winter, owners decided to implement their new labor agreement while opening spring training with replacement players as the Players’ Association went to the National Labor Relations Board to seek an injunction.

 

When Spring Training began, every team had to find players willing to cross the picket line to play. The answer was even more complicated for the Baltimore Orioles, who had Cal Ripken Jr.’s streak approaching Lou Gehrig’s record. Owner Peter Angelos, a former labor attorney, decided that he would rather forfeit and did not have a team working out as he was prepared to go 0-162 if needed. A similar decision was made by longtime Tigers skipper Sparky Anderson who refused to return until the strike ended. 

 Most of the players who ended up at Spring Training Camps were players buried deep in the minors, who were not considered prospects and saw being a replacement player as a chance to keep their dreams of playing in the major leagues alive. Despite being notified by the union that there would be repercussions for crossing the picket line. New York Mets union rep John Franco was far less subtle, stating he would drill any scab who came up to face him. One notable minor leaguer who refused to cross the picket line was Michael Jordan, who ended his baseball career and began working to return to the NBA. 

 Some of the replacement players were former major leaguers trying to make some extra cash, whether or not they were in shape to play. This included 48-year-old Pedro Borbon, who had not appeared in a major league game since 1980. Lenny Randle was 45 and had not played since 1982. Also crossing the picket line was 1984 Cy Young and American League MVP Guillermo Hernandez. Among the more infamous strikebreakers was Rick Reed, who had played with the Texas Rangers in 1994 and dealt with resentment the remainder of his career. 

As March came to an end, baseball appeared to be heading for disaster with the New York ReplaceMets and the immortal Bubba Wagnon who quit his landscaping job in Alabama to chase the dream of taking on the Florida Marlins on a Sunday Night Opener set for April 2nd. The farcical spring training included an exhibition game in Denver, with the Colorado Rockies hosting the New York Yankees in the first game at Coors Field. However, on March 31st, Judge Sonya Sotomayor in a New York Federal Court ended the strike by declaring that the owners were negotiating in bad faith. She would grant the players their request for an injunction that put the expired Collective Bargaining Agreement back in place until a new deal could be reached. The injunction assured the player's protection against the owners implementing a salary cap and ended the strike.

 Many of the players who crossed the picket line and played in the replacement games later got their chance to play in the majors. Benny Agbayani, Cory Liddle, Kevin Millar, and Shane Spencer were among these players. They would never be let back into the Player’s Association. They could not have their names or likeness used in video games or on championship t-shirts, which would be peculiar as Millar played a significant role on the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Sparky Anderson, meanwhile, found his relationship with the Tigers damaged and retired at the season’s end.