As we get closer to an almost certain lockout by Major League Baseball owners, I can’t help but think back to the St. Louis Cardinals team before the strike that ended the 1994 baseball season.
Here’s a quick refresher on exactly what led to the work stoppage in MLB in the summer of 1994. On January 18, 1994, the owners approved a new revenue-sharing plan that included a salary cap. One of the arguments back then was that small-market teams would not be competitive unless local broadcast revenue was shared.
Also included in the proposal that would eventually be presented to the players was the elimination of salary arbitration and free agency that would begin after four years instead of six. The proposal was officially submitted to the players association on June 14, 1994 and was officially rejected by the MLBPA on July 18, 1994. I bring up this date because I remember being at Busch Stadium just a few days later. I believe it may have been one of the series against the Atlanta Braves in late July 1994.
The mood at Busch Stadium in late July of 1994 was tepid and that’s my memory being optimistic. One life memory I have is being at one of the concession stands in old Busch Stadium standing behind a couple of fans talking about how the baseball strike was inevitable and they swore they’d never come back to a game if the players went out on strike. It didn’t help that the 1994 St. Louis Cardinals were not a very good team, either.
The St. Louis Cardinals in 1994 had Ray Lankford who was about to enter his prime. He and Todd Zeile had 19 home runs before the season was cut short on August 11, 1994. Ozzie Smith was nearing the end of his playing career. Ozzie was selected to the All-Star game in 1994 at age 39 which made him the oldest player in the game. Gregg Jeffries was arguably one of the best Cardinals players in 1994 with a .325 batting average, 12 home runs and 55 RBI’s. Tom Pagnozzi, Bernard Gilkey, Gerónimo Peña and Mark Whiten were the other regulars in the starting lineup. Brian Jordan was still a year away from making his impact in St. Louis.
Bob Tewksbury was the leader of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff in 1994 as he notched 12 wins before the season was shortened. Allen Watson, Vicente Palacios, Rick Sutcliffe and Omar Olivares handled the rest of the starting workload. One of the Cardinals biggest issues in 1994 was their bullpen. Mike Pérez started the year as the closer, but struggled with an ERA over 8 before René Arocha took over and saved 11 games before he went down with an elbow injury that required surgery.
The St. Louis Cardinals final game of 1994 was on August 11 when the Cardinals beat the Marlins 8-6 in Florida. They ended the shortened season with a record of 53 wins, 61 losses and 1 tie. That tied game happened on April 6, 1994 when a game against the Reds at Riverfront Stadium was called after 6 innings with the Cardinals and Reds knotted at 8-8 called because of weather. The strike on August 12, 1994 made sure that game would never be finished.
1994 has come back to me over the past few days because some of the same issues I remember being discussed among fans at Busch Stadium that summer are the same ones we’re hearing now. Salary cap, small market teams being competitive, clubs being forced to align their payrolls with a more even structure and owners predicting that the average player contracts would more than double. Those talking points 32 years ago led to the longest work stoppage in MLB history lasting 232 days. Let’s hope that the Major League Baseball owners and players remember that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
- Fewer ads
- Create community posts
- Comment on articles, community posts
- Rec comments, community posts
- New, improved notifications system!
Download the SB Nation app on iOS or Android.
