This link isn't so compelling, but there was one piece of info I never heard before. Apparently, after their final game before the strike, on the road, the Cardinals did not allow the players to fly home on the team's chartered flight. They all scrambled to make their own arrangements.
Day Before the Strike - (
New Window )
Was a great article.
The '94 strike was exactly where I shifted from MLB to the NBA as a kid. I got really, really into hoops after being more into baseball - but the strike killed my mojo and by the time I had gotten back into baseball, the Yankees dynasty already had some hardware.
The pre-strike Yankees are the first teams I remember watching.
From Melido Perez... to Paulie O crushing it when he came over from the Reds... Pat freakin' Kelly... Mike Stanley, Tartabull, young Bernie, etc. Key and Abbott, Mattingly with his barking back... Leyritz, Velarde...
The other is how this opened the door to widespread PEDs. I am not naive enough to think McGwire and Sosa were the only ones using after. But, their use was certainly more evident and on full display during their HR chase. It was basically embraced by MLB to try to win back fans and opened the door for much more use. I also think the angle that this is what spurred Bonds to use is 100% true.
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Marc Carig has a great article about it,focusing on the '94 Yankees & Expos.
Was a great article.
The '94 strike was exactly where I shifted from MLB to the NBA as a kid. I got really, really into hoops after being more into baseball - but the strike killed my mojo and by the time I had gotten back into baseball, the Yankees dynasty already had some hardware.
The pre-strike Yankees are the first teams I remember watching.
From Melido Perez... to Paulie O crushing it when he came over from the Reds... Pat freakin' Kelly... Mike Stanley, Tartabull, young Bernie, etc. Key and Abbott, Mattingly with his barking back... Leyritz, Velarde...
The strikes don't really hurt from an established fan standpoint, but kill amongst the youth and that is how you build. Remember how long between seasons it seemed to take as a kid? That is because it represents a much larger percentage of time in your life. Just like summer break seemed to last forever.
But not surprising. Look at what they're doing now with the mega juiced baseballs and more emphasis on "stylin" trying to cater the game to moron millennial and make it more instagram/tweetworthy.
The other is how this opened the door to widespread PEDs. I am not naive enough to think McGwire and Sosa were the only ones using after. But, their use was certainly more evident and on full display during their HR chase. It was basically embraced by MLB to try to win back fans and opened the door for much more use. I also think the angle that this is what spurred Bonds to use is 100% true.
That would've been a Yankees/Spos World Series that year I feel. Now long term I have no clue what it would've done for the viability of baseball in Montreal...but it would've been interesting to see
The NFL better take note, because I seriously feel that aant strike and especially a protracted strike will hurt the sport. Between head injuries and PEDs fans will be turned off by billionaire owners and multi-millionaire players squabbling over a few million bucks. Rightfully players have their eyes on a bigger piece of the pie, whether it is a higher salary cap, more equal distribution of the cap, continued and better medical coverage and a better pension. The players are the ones taking the biggest risk with their long term health.
If the NFLPA and owners cannot settle these things over the next year+, then a pox on their houses.
The NFL better take note, because I seriously feel that aant strike and especially a protracted strike will hurt the sport. Between head injuries and PEDs fans will be turned off by billionaire owners and multi-millionaire players squabbling over a few million bucks. Rightfully players have their eyes on a bigger piece of the pie, whether it is a higher salary cap, more equal distribution of the cap, continued and better medical coverage and a better pension. The players are the ones taking the biggest risk with their long term health.
If the NFLPA and owners cannot settle these things over the next year+, then a pox on their houses.
Was just about to say the say the same thing. Donnie was robbed of his ring. Still pisses me off to this day.
To follow that up with the near comical level of PED abuse completely destroyed any pretense of baseball as a game. Of course it always was a business, but the stewards did largely preserve a level of integrity that's now gone.
I used to feel really bad for the Expos, because their chances of success are so limited (compared to the Yanks), and 1994 was it. But I since learned they weren't victims. Their fans were.
Now I'm pleased to hear the Miami Marlins, or any team, is averaging under 10,000 fans/night. No sympathy for those who damaged the game
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In comment 14525773 TheMick7 said:
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Marc Carig has a great article about it,focusing on the '94 Yankees & Expos.
Was a great article.
The '94 strike was exactly where I shifted from MLB to the NBA as a kid. I got really, really into hoops after being more into baseball - but the strike killed my mojo and by the time I had gotten back into baseball, the Yankees dynasty already had some hardware.
The pre-strike Yankees are the first teams I remember watching.
From Melido Perez... to Paulie O crushing it when he came over from the Reds... Pat freakin' Kelly... Mike Stanley, Tartabull, young Bernie, etc. Key and Abbott, Mattingly with his barking back... Leyritz, Velarde...
The strikes don't really hurt from an established fan standpoint, but kill amongst the youth and that is how you build. Remember how long between seasons it seemed to take as a kid? That is because it represents a much larger percentage of time in your life. Just like summer break seemed to last forever.
Yep. Something like that is perceived a lot differently when you're 9 years old.. which is what I was at the time. I think I looked at it like... "wait, baseball can just stop in the middle of a season.. suddenly - seemingly without warning? Well, that sucks.. I 'll have to find something else to follow"
The Rangers had just won the Stanley Cup just 2 months prior, so I was all gassed up on hockey at the time - and the Knicks were so close to winning it all, too - so I think that also kind of propelled me more into basketball.
1994 was so close to a trifecta year... the Rangers, Knicks and Yankees all could have been champions that year and how great it would have been.
1993 was the first step out of the abyss, and in 1994 everything was awesome. O'Neill was having an MVP kind of year, Boggs was back to his old Sawx form, Mike Stanley and Matt Nokes were the best-hitting catching tandem in baseball, Bernie was blossoming into a star, even Donnie was hitting .300 again, although without his old power. The pitching was a bit shaky, but Key was the best Yankees starter since Guidry and somehow Steve Howe was having a great season as the closer. The strike was a real kick in the balls right when everything was going so well.