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MARCH 31 — 1995 Major League Baseball strike ends; 1965 President Johnson reports inaction of conflict in Vietnam; 2865 Battle of Dinwiddle Courthouse; 1895 Happy Birthday Vardis Fisher (old west novelist); 2018 Forbes ranks Yankees most expensive sports franchise
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MARCH 31
1995-The longest strike in Major League Baseball history ends.
There was no World Series that yhear for the first time ever and no champion was crowned. 6948 games were cancelled in all, the MLB became the first major professional sports league to lose an entire postseason until 2004 when it happened to the National Hockey League. 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 19758, players were subject to a reserve clause that tied each player to one team for their career,, which kept their 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 player’s 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. Three seasons! Once the players union found this out, they sued and won a $280 million judgement.
When the collective bargaining agreement between MLB 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,m and the rest of the 1994 season was cancelled. President Clinton met with the lead negotiators of both sides, and that didn’t work. Toward the end of March, on the eve of the new baseball season, 28 of 30 owners voted to field replacement teams, but on March 31, Judge Sonia Sontomayor stepped in, issuing an injunction against owners from locking players out.
Finally on April 2, 1995, the players returned to work. But fans were upset, attendance was low, except for the ones picketing aainst the players and owners alike. Luckilly The Iron Man Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s stream for consecutive games played on September 5, 1995, which proved to be an example of a player with great work ethic.
1965 President BullSh*t Johnson told reporters in regard to the situation in Vietnam, “I know of no rfar-reaching strategy that is being suggested or promulgated.” Except for one thing; Landslide Lyndon had already sent 3500 marines o Da Nang to secure the ULS airbase.
Oh, let me guess…it’s a defensive mission, right?
1865-The Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, a minor engagement in the Appomattox Campaign of the Civil War, which led to the Battle of Five Forks, tool place. The result was a Confederate victory with Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan v Gen. Robert E Lee’s forces of Maj. Gen Rooney Lee’s cavalry and Maj. Gen George Pickett’s infantry division.
1895-Happy Birthday Vardis Fisher! Although he’s best known for his popular historical novels of the Old West, he also wrote the monumental 12-volume Testament of Man, which depicted the history of humans from cave to civilization.
2018 – Yankees still most expensive sports franchise says Forbes magazine, by a huge margin.
How much are the Bombers worth? Take a guess. What did you expect from a team that has won 27 World Series. Rounding out the top 5 include the Dodgers a $3B, Cubs $2.98B, SF Giants $2.85B, and the Red Sox at $2.8B. The Yankees revenue, according to Forbes, was $619M, or 20% higher than any other team in baseball. So after topping the Forbes list 21 years in a row for being the most expensive baseball franchise, exactly how much are the Yankees? About $4B.
1967-Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar on stage for the first time at Finsbury Park at start of theUK tour with Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and Engelbert Humberdink.
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