Baseball and Labor
In the recent history of professional sports, no other sport hassuffered more labor strife than Major League Baseball. Since 1972,negotiations between baseball players and owners have resulted in strikesor lockouts. The 1994 player strike lasted for 232 days, the longeststrike in the history of professional sports. Baseball officially became a business in 1869 with the formation ofthe Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first all-professional team. Team ownerRichard Wright also revolutionized the game by charging for admissions andpaying players a salary. Whereas previously, baseball was largely arecreational sport for wealthy patrons, player could now earn a living by The establishment of professional baseball teams also ushered in thepractice of revolving. In this early form of free agency, baseball playerswould routinely transfer from team to team. Depending on their performanceduring the season, players would negotiate yearly contracts between After a few years of this practice, baseball team owners grew worriedat the rising salary levels. To pro
By 1885, John Montgomery Ward founded the Brotherhood of theProfessional Base Ball Players. The reserve clause saw bigger challenges in the mid-1970s. The measures further stoked the resentment among the players. tect the league from bankruptcy, theNational League of Professional Base Ball Clubs introduced a reserve clausein the players' contracts. However, after the 1890 season, investors withdrew theirsupport. By 1889, new league rules mandated a $2,500 salarylimit per season, regardless of their performance. By 1977, the union and Major League Baseball agreed to a provisionstipulating free agent eligibility after six years. By now, baseball was a $2billion per year industry (Staudohar 2002). 1994-1995 In 1995, the collective bargaining agreement ended, setting the stagefor new negotiations between management and the players. However, in December 1994, theowners imposed a salary cap without the players' approval. He then signed a 5-year contract with the NewYork Yankees for $3. In response, team owners tried to take greater control of the game byproposing a salary cap. Since many of thesecities already had National League franchises, fans were forced to choosebetween the two leagues. The 1973 collective bargaining agreements allowed playerswith at least 2. To further complicate the negotiations, Major League BaseballCommissioner Bud Selig maintained that only five teams made money in 2001,while the rest lost a combined total of $511 million.
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