Baseball strike of 1981
The Baseball Strike of 1981 was a significant labor dispute in Major League Baseball (MLB) that arose from disagreements over a new collective bargaining agreement between team owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association. Following the expiration of their Basic Agreement in 1980 and a year of unsuccessful negotiations, players led by Marvin Miller walked out on June 12, 1981, in response to owners' efforts to limit player salaries and restrict free agency. The strike lasted fifty days, during which players collectively forfeited around $30 million in salaries, while owners faced approximately $70 million in lost revenue.
Negotiations resumed after the looming threat of a canceled season, leading to an agreement on July 31 that allowed for some compensation for lost free agents but did not significantly inhibit free agency or salary increases. When play resumed on August 9, the season was affected by the cancellation of 712 games and a new playoff format that ultimately excluded the best overall teams from the postseason. The strike left a legacy of distrust between players and owners, with negative sentiments from fans directed at both parties. This event set the stage for future labor disputes regarding player salaries and free agency within the league.
Baseball strike of 1981
The Event Fifty-day work stoppage by Major League Baseball players during the regular season
Date June 12 to July 31, 1981
The second strike in Major League Baseball’s history resulted in the cancellation of more than one-third of the season. Resulting from a dispute over free-agent player movement and rising salaries, the strike temporarily alienated baseball fans, but attendance soon rebounded later in the decade.
Major League Baseball’s Basic Agreement, a collective bargaining agreement between the team owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association, expired in 1980. Despite a one-year cooling-off period, the players’ union, led by Marvin Miller, could not concur with the owners on the terms of a new agreement. Owners were determined to cap the players’ escalating salaries and to limit free agency by requiring that any team that lost a free-agent player to another team receive significant compensation. Miller and the players argued that teams were still making profits despite their higher salaries and that compensation requirements would inhibit teams from bidding on free agents. When the owners threatened to institute their own interpretation of restricted free agency, the players walked out on June 12.
During the fifty-day strike, the players lost approximately $30 million in salaries but stayed relatively united. The average player forfeited about $50,000. Team owners had a $50 million strike insurance policy, but they still probably lost close to $70 million in revenue. With the imminent prospect of a canceled season, several owners and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn panicked and renewed negotiations. An agreement was announced July 31. Owners would receive minor compensation for lost free agents, but not enough significantly to inhibit free agency. The rise in salaries continued unabated.
Play resumed on August 9 with the All-Star Game in Cleveland, and the regular season began the following day. Some 712 games had been canceled during the strike. Hoping to generate fan enthusiasm, owners devised a complicated playoff system for the 1981 season whereby the division leaders in each half of the season would play in a preliminary elimination round to determine who would advance to the league championships. Attendance and television ratings, however, fell significantly. Furthermore, the complicated system resulted in the two National League teams with the best overall records, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds, being excluded from the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals won the second-half American League Western Division championship, despite having a losing record for the abbreviated season.
Impact
There were no winners in the strike of 1981. Fans were disgusted with owners and players alike. The strike produced a deep-seated distrust between the players’ union and ownership. Owners made Kuhn a scapegoat and refused to reelect him to another term as commissioner. The stage was thus set for even more costly battles over free agency and player salaries.
Bibliography
Burk, Robert F. Much More than a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball Since 1921. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.
Korr, Charles P. The End of Baseball as We Knew It: The Players Union, 1960-81. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
Rader, Benjamin G. Baseball: A History of America’s Game. 2d ed. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002.