For nearly one hundred years the sport of baseball had been considered America’s national past time. It had acquired this title by proving it’s decency and honesty, and fans responded by admiring, and loving it. Baseball slowly turned into merely a business by the 1980’s, and this trend reached its height by 1994. This new business juggernaut had become to powerful, and those that participated in it weren’t content sitting back and allowing money they felt that they justly deserved to be diverted t o other’s. This therefore led to the longest and most destructive strike ever in professional sports.

This strike was a war fought between the owners of the teams, and those that played for them. Each side felt that they were just deserving of millions of dollars for playing a sport that most dreamed to have the opportunity to play. The negotiation s were placed mainly on the Collective Bargaining Agreement that had expired during the 1994 season. That agreement had also been made after a strike, however, it didn’t compare to the magnitude of the one that the sport had now fallen in to. The players went on strike so as to avoid the owners placing a salary cap. It wasn’t exactly that the players wanted to go on strike, it was just that they were left with no alternative.(Staudohar pg.21) The owners, in response to this walkout, offered the players a radically altered agreement that ultimately would place caps on the players salaries, and provide benefits to the owners such as reduced luxury taxes, and larger cuts from the player’s revenues which included advertisement deals.(Staudohar pg.24)

The players were outraged, and immediately defeated the bill, while offering the owner’s one that eliminated a cap, while allowing salary arbitration. The owner’s felt they would lose too much under this system, and therefore refused to accept this agreement. In so doing, the acting baseball Commissioner Bud Selig cancelled the remaining baseball season.(Current Event’s pg.4) Up until then there had remained hope by many that the season would continue, and the World Series would be played. By ackno wledging that the season was over, the media instantly began feasting on Major League Baseball. They explained everything that was wrong with it, and began reshaping the minds of those that followed the game.

Baseball strikes were not something unheard of by 1994. Each new Bargaining agreement had been created during a time of strike since the 1972 season. However this was the first time that games had been cancelled since 1981, and this was to be the f irst season without a World Series since 1904.(Staudohar pg.22) Fans wouldn’t stand for such an outrage, and they didn’t have to due in part to the press. Each time a new halt was reached in negotiation’s, the media told of the greed of both sides, and ac ted as the only one looking out for the fans interest’s.(Fotheringham pg.68)

The once beloved sport had now been overtaken by lawyer’s, and agents. It was for this reason, the media believed, that the sport was now on strike. It was joined by Hockey later that year, and by 1998, Basketball had entered the ranks of sports th at had been damaged by a strike. Only once before had players gone on strike for any reason other then money, and that was in 1912 when the Detroit Tiger’s refused to play after one of their player’s, Ty Cobb, had received a suspension. The media didn’t t hrow stones at the player’s of that era manly on the basis that they were seen by many to be heroes. No matter what they did on the field or off it, it was socially correct.(Staudohar pg.22) The players acted just as kindly to a press that overlooked many less then perfect players’s with stories, and photographs. The new age players, however, didn’t stand for such high morals. They had begun to use drugs, and wife beating’s were a constant story in papers. The media was no longer a help to these players a s now the story was all that mattered. This began with the way the press reported the Vietnam War. Despite "the Pentagon trying to impose order on a bevy of reporters, the journalists got the scoop anyway."(Hammond pg.55) Such was the case with baseball today.

Player’s often tried to mask their problems only to have them divulged to the public. Such created a large rift between the sport, and the media. This rift was only exploited during the strike, as neither side was willing to sit down and talk to th e other, so the stories were written much like editorials. As Ken Burn’s often pointed out to the fan, "There is no sport left in sport. Sport is cruel commerce."(Fotheringham pg.69) No player came out to defend their reason for playing the game , no player acknowledged their love for the sport, and instead they all sat at home hoping for a call that would announce that they were going to receive more money. Such became many fans’ opinions about the athletes that they vowed to get back at the spo rt that had taken away from them.

Their opportunity arose the following year when the strike finally ended, but not because a side finally caved in, but because of a U.S. District Court forcing the owners to forego their hope for a salary cap on the basis that it violated the Natio nal Labor Relations Board which prohibited an ownership to make vast changes in an agreement, and try to impose it on the basis of an impasse in negotiations.(Staudohar pg.25) The season therefore began on a bed of bad feelings. There was still no agreeme nt made, and the sport had now alienated itself from the fans. This was proven by the lack of attendance, and therefore interest many people expressed towards the game. Fan attendance dropped 20 percent, and those that did attend the game showed their dis gust by throwing that day’s giveaway onto the field. These were just a few of the sign’s that fans weren’t just about to forgive, and forget.

Player’s and owner’s alike knew that they had to be on their best behavior, and does nothing to further tarnish the game of baseball. However, Cleveland Indian star Albert Belle did just that with his off the field antics. Belle cussed out NBC jour nalist Hannah Storm before Game 3 of the World Series, he threw a ball at a disgruntled fan, and is known to have cheated by corking his bat. These actions reminded fans that were rediscovering the game why they had spent their income elsewhere in 1995.(N ewman pg.16) Such conduct as this is hard to overlook when the entire sport is under a microscope that is willing to magnify even the slightest problem. Belle’s problems were although over matched by the great things done by the return of the World Series , and Cal Ripkin Jr.. Cal represents a player from a time well passed. Cal proved to the entire world that not every player is out for the big paychecks by setting the iron man’s record. For over Fourteen years, Cal played in every game the Baltimore Orio les had. This equaled out to 2,131 games as of September 6^th 1995, one more then that of the original iron man, Lou Gehrig. Such a record being set warranted a prime time slot on TV’s sport’s channel ESPN, followed by a yearlong salute to the m an.

This lone action, which the media praised him for, was without greed. Ripkin went about before that game doing deeds for children, and continued doing these deeds after. This was, however, a lone action, since no other great things occurred that wo uld make the everyday fan forget the actions the year before, especially since the media constantly reminded that there still was no Labor Agreement. This began to change as of 1998, when the players truly acted as though they were happy to be playing the game, not to be making money.

The largest example of this rests in the homerun race between Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa. These two-baseball players’s proved to the world just what baseball is supposed to be a game of heroes, friends, and fun. Both players were thrown in to a r ace that was watched very closely. Every team in the league kept track of the race, and updates were made almost as quickly as the ball would leave the field. Reporters began to describe the emotion of the game, and how the fans reacted with joy to the cr ack of the bat.(Nightengale pg.7) This enthusiasm continued through out the season as on the last day, McGwire hit his 70^th homerun. This number was thought to be unachievable, however, it was still reached. McGwire attained it with grace, and offered to share it with his friend through out the entire year, Sosa. The media’s response to this was one of praise on the man’s ability to overcome, and give back to fans that had given him so much.

Another defining moment that the tides had calmed in regards to baseball rested with the fact that Mark had taken a strength building supplement that may have given him an unfair advantage through out the season. Fans and media alike overlooked thi s. They knew the truth, but didn’t think any less of the man for it. In fact they applauded him for using a dietary drug that kept him in competition.(Nightengale pg.8) This sign of forgiveness was not taken for granted by the player’s, though. Finally th ey were acting like gentlemen, and even the the man that often defined everything that was wrong with the game, Albert Belle, played like it mattered to him. This proved to be a turning point for the sport, since it is no longer held down by it’s reputati on for being based upon the almighty dollar. It has also been aided by a lackluster hockey season, and a strike hindered Basketball season.

It’s to early to determine if baseball has again regained it’s hold on the country as being the national past time, but it’s problems are more easily forgotten today. One of these problems could have been the way the networks were treated by baseba ll during the strike-shortened season. The networks lost millions in revenue just as baseball lost nearly a billion dollars. The league dropped the networks of ABC, and NBC rather unkindly, but NBC came right back, however this time, they were paired with FOX. Baseball sold it’s right’s to them, and everything was quickly solved.(1996 Information Please pg.5) Fans for the most part weren’t even aware that a problem had arisen, mainly because the media choose not to report it constantly since the sport was again on the upswing, so why begin to rag on it.

This appears to be the media’s stance on most everything in the country leave it alone until public opinion shifts, and the follow it. In doing so, the media is always the most socially popular medium about. Although it appears the media has a stra ngle hold on the country, it is mainly an illusion. The media rests completely on what popular opinion is. If they feel that the public is completely behind, and supports baseball, then it would be pointless to try to show that the sport has a bad side to it, since most fans would merely shrug it off.

The fact that baseball is back in full swing is good enough for most fans. The memories of today aren’t as strong as those of yesterday, and it’s those past memories that fans want to relive. Such is said by Bob Levin, "One of the defining sou nds of summer in North America is the sound of radio baseball." These sounds provide everybody with a sense of being, and a list of good memories to be re-examined each year with those you care about.

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"Baseball’s doomed TV partnership." 1996 Information Please1996:567-569

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Fotheringham, Allan. "Where has all the Sport Gone?" Maclean’s 10 Oct. 1994:68-69

Hammond, William. "Reporting Vietnam." Publisher’s Weekly 14 Sept. 1998:55-56

Levin, Bob. "Mean Season." Maclean’s 26 Sept. 1994:30-32

McEvoy, Dermot. "As Baseball Strikes Out, Other Sports Step Up." Publishers Weekly 27 Feb. 1995:76-82

Newman, Mark. "Why We Missed the World Series." The Sporting News 6 Nov. 1995:16-17

Nightengale, Bob. "Mac Belts 70!" MSNBC Sports 28 Sept. 1998:1-8

Staudohar, Paul. "The Baseball Strike of 1994-95."Monthly Labor Review March 1997:21-29

"Struck Out." The Economist 29 July 1995:67-68