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LEAD STORY
Eiffel Tower opens, 1889
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Abigail Adams urges
husband to "remember the
ladies", 1776
Mar 31, 1995:
Longest strike in Major League Baseball history
ends
AUTOMOTIVE
Knute Rockne, Studebaker
namesake, dies, 1931
March 31
CIVIL WAR
North and South skirmish
near Dinwiddie Court
House, 1865
COLD WAR
Warsaw Pact ends, 1991
CRIME
Evidence of murder is
uncovered in New Mexico,
1999
DISASTER
Mississippi River reaches
peak flood level, 1973
GENERAL INTEREST
Jews to be expelled from
Spain, 1492
Treaty of Kanagawa
signed with Japan, 1854
Dalai Lama begins exile,
1959
HOLLYWOOD
The Matrix released, 1999
LITERARY
First installment of The
Pickwick Papers, Dickens'
first novel, 1836
MUSIC
Oklahoma! premieres on
Broadway, 1943
OLD WEST
Western novelist Vardis
Fisher born, 1895
Recommend
32
Send
Major League Baseball players are sent back to work after the longest strike in baseball
history ends on this day in 1995. Because of the strike, the 1994 World Series was
cancelled; it was the first time baseball did not crown a champion in 89 years.
During the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement, tensions between
owners and players had arisen over the owners’ desire to institute a cap on player
salaries. Claiming financial hardship, owners argued that player salaries, which had risen
exponentially since the 1970s, had become unsustainable and, if not contained, would
bankrupt the teams. The players, led by union head Donald Fehr, refused to agree to a
cap; they pointed out that they had been underpaid for most of the sport’s history and
called salary caps just the latest form of exploitation by owners.
Until 1975, players were subject to a reserve clause that tied each player to one team for
their career, destroying any free market and keeping player salaries artificially low. After
the reserve clause was abolished in arbitration, free agency drove salaries up, as owners
were forced to bid against one another for players’ services. After the 1985 season,
owners agreed in secret not to sign one another’s players, and all 28 major league teams
sat idly by during the next three off-seasons. Upon discovering the conspiracy, the
players’ union sued and won a $280 million judgment.
When the collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the
Players Association expired in 1994, bad blood remained and negotiations over a new
deal soon turned sour. On August 12, owners locked the players out, and the rest of the
1994 season was cancelled. Long-suffering fans in Montreal and Yankee fans in New
York were especially disappointed, as their teams led the National League and American
League, respectively, at the time of the lock-out.
In December 1994, President Clinton met with the lead negotiators of both sides, to no
PRESIDENTIAL
avail. Toward the end of March, on the eve of the new baseball season, 28 of 30 owners
Abigail Adams asks her
husband to "remember the voted to field replacement teams, but on March 31, Judge Sonia Sontomayor stepped in,
ladies", 1776
issuing an injunction against owners from locking players out. Finally, on April 2, 1995, the
players returned to work.
SPORTS
Legendary UCLA
basketball coach John
Wooden wins 10th
national title, 1975
Longest strike in Major
League Baseball history
ends, 1995
Baseball’s fans were not forgiving. Attendance in 1995 was the lowest in years, dropping
from an average 31,000 per game in 1993 to just 25,000. Fans picketed at opening day
games, angry at players and owners alike. Thankfully for baseball, "The Iron Man" Cal
Ripken’s breaking of Lou Gehrig’s streak for consecutive games played on September 6,
1995, finally broke the ice. Ripken’s incredible work ethic and commitment to the game is
said to have saved baseball’s place in the hearts of fans.
VIETNAM WAR
Johnson publicly denies
actions contemplated in
Vietnam, 1965
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The collective bargaining agreement between players and owners was not renewed until
1996. When that agreement expired in 2002, owners and players, having learned the
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/longest-strike-in-major-league-baseball-history... 6/15/2014
Longest strike in Major League Baseball history ends — History.com This Day in History... Page 2 of 3
Johnson announces
bombing halt, 1968
unforgiving nature of their fans in 1995, were able to ratify a new deal without a work
stoppage.
Fighting intensifies with
North Vietnamese
offensive, 1972
WORLD WAR I
The First Moroccan Crisis,
1905
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WORLD WAR II
Germany's Atlantis
launches, 1940
March 31
This Week in History, Mar 31 - Apr 6
Mar 31, 1975
Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden wins 10th national
title
Mar 31, 1995
Longest strike in Major League Baseball history ends
Apr 01, 1985
Villanova beats Georgetown for NCAA basketball championship
Apr 02, 1977
Red Rum wins record third Grand National
Apr 03, 1988
Lemieux wins NHL scoring title, stops Gretzky streak
Apr 04, 1982
Gretzky finishes season with 212 points
Apr 05, 1984
Abdul-Jabbar breaks points record
Apr 06, 1896
First modern Olympics is held
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