What is so different about Major League Baseball’s current absence, not counting the familiar owners- vs.-players wrangle over money, is the total lack of options for sports spectators. Three previous work stoppages resulted in cancelled games, but in each of those cases—in 1972, 1981 and 1994-95—other forms of sporting frivolity were readily available.
There was some shock in ’72 over history’s first player strike, which left big-league parks briefly empty from April 1 to 13. That unprecedented labor action by professional jocks disrupted “normal” routine, but it certainly was not in a league with the real-world crises of 2020—a global pandemic, crashing economy and roiling demonstrations against racial injustice.
Think of this: ESPN has been so desperate for sports news that its website’s lead headline on Tuesday ballyhooed, “Bucs release photos of Tom Brady in his new uniform.”
In April of ’72, among the plentiful alternative sporting entertainment in a MLB-free nation were NBA and/or NHL playoffs progressing in 13 major-league cities. It happens I was on assignment in Los Angeles for Newsday at the time, covering the NBA semifinals between the Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks. Yet even on an off day in that series, I found live baseball—with a decidedly big-league feel—on the University of Southern California campus.
SC was the reigning national collegiate champion then, playing a non-conference game against nearby Westmont College. One of the game’s umpires was Emmett Ashford, who had been MLB’s first black umpire and regularly worked SC games following his retirement from the Bigs two years earlier.
There was a high school lad sitting behind home plate that day, having set up a microphone and tape recorder to work on his play-by-play voice. Instead of referring to the teams as SC and Westmont, he called them the Angels and the Twins. So when SC outfielder Fred Lynn, who two years later would make his debut with the Boston Red Sox and went on to play 17 years in the Majors, struck out, poor Tony Oliva—a 15-year veteran with the Twins then on strike with his fellow pros—got blamed for it by the prep announcer.
That SC team resembled the L.A. Dodgers of 1972, relying on pitching and, in that particular game, going hitless until the sixth inning. The SC coach, for that year and 44 others, was Rod Dedeaux, who won 11 NCAA titles and played annual exhibitions against the Dodgers. (SC won their 1971 meeting, 10-9, before 31,000 fans.)
Dedeaux’s close relationship with Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda brought offers (which Dedeaux declined) to join the Dodger coaching staff. Besides Lynn, Dedeaux’s former SC players who enjoyed significant big-league success included Tom Seaver, Mark McGwire, Dave Kingman, Ron Fairly, Don Buford, Roy Smalley, Steve Kemp and Randy Johnson. Kingman was among the handful of striking players who worked out at SC during the work stoppage.
Back to the future: The coronavirus—the monster under our beds—is still there, and now baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is frightening the sport’s followers with noises about cancelling the 2020 season to show the players’ union who’s boss.
Other pro sports may return to action before the Majors do, which has moved fivethirtyeight.com to ask whether MLB’s labor fight might remind potential customers that there will be other choices out there soon.
“If history is any guide,” fivethirtyeight concluded, “a labor dispute isn’t likely to dampen enthusiasm for the game for long. In the past, fans have returned—and often quickly.” The piece cited a 3.7 percent drop in attendance in 1972 that was reversed with a 6.8 increase the next season. And “fans weren’t likely to attend games in a shortened 2020 season anyway because of COVID-19 concerns.”
Still, when the NBA comes back. And the NHL. And the NFL. And USC….