A Called Strike: Baseball, 1994

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where with the dog weeks of the sporting calendar upon us, your hosts dive back into time with an examination of perhaps the most impactful labor stoppage in history, the 1994-95 MLB players’ strike. Twenty-seven years ago to the month, the MLBPA, working amidst an expired collective bargaining agreement for the season’s first five months, walked on August 12, 1994 and were not to be seen in a competitive game until April 25, 1995. The first time a labor stoppage eliminated an entire postseason across all sports and the first and only season in the World Series-era without one since 1904, the players’ strike resonates to this day. Join us as we discuss the specific conditions that led to the strike in the early ‘90s, a history of labor/management relations in baseball leading up to 1994, the unique competitive and individual storylines that the strike sent to the wayside that season, and the ups-and-mostly downs Major League Baseball has experienced in the twenty-six years post-resolution. But first, another oppressive summer afternoon brings about a further round of hot Collective rants, as Ed lights a match under the ass of yet another GOP governor following his taking a particularly reprehensible position regarding COVID-19 protocols in our schools; Andrew examines a sordid political/social life intertwined with an historically accomplished pugilistic career on the day of what may be Manny Pacquaio’s boxing swan song; and finally Zak welcomes a certain SpaceX and Tesla CEO back to the Collective firing line with a critical appraisal of his latest bit of tech-porn while considering what drives public interest in his vanity endeavors.