![]() The union could use social media to inform the players, to provide messaging, to reinforce arguments. He wanted the players to understand when and why it was important to take a stand. He wanted the players to know what their peers were earning, because owners had kept everything secret for decades and used the players’ ignorance in salary matters against them. Marvin Miller, the legendary union leader who is primarily responsible for building the strength of baseball’s players’ association, believed in openness, to better educate rank-and-file members. Imagine what a body blow it would be to any union if you had individuals griping in Tweets about being out of work, about paychecks missed, about union leadership choices. Imagine how much more difficult it could be for the union to hold together a coalition these days, with a thousand-plus members posting on their own Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts. In the midst of the 1994-95 strike, Orioles pitcher Arthur Rhodes showed up at Baltimore’s camp to say hello to friends - and when the union leadership got wind of this, he was told to leave ASAP, lest he inadvertently convey the message to baseball owners that the players were desperate to get back to work. Players such as Lenny Dykstra might have disagreed with the decisions and preferred to be back at work, but generally speaking, players expected each other to fall in line and back the leadership. The occasional dissenters were shouted down. I remember Tony Gwynn chuckling as he recalled the angry exchanges in some of the meetings, whenever an individual player would question the wisdom of the union’s path. There was also intense peer pressure, when needed. Back then, the oldest and even the youngest players were battle-tested in labor strife, with many having experienced everything from multiple rounds of owners’ collusion to strikes to lockouts, and within the membership, there was a strong belief in the common cause. culture.Īlmost a quarter-century has passed since the last time the union conducted a players’ strike, which swallowed the 1994 World Series and the beginning of the 1995 season. No major professional sports league has attempted to strike since social media became so ingrained in U.S. Whatever its composition, whoever is involved, the union leadership should devote some serious thought to how to handle social media - which has the potential to be a weapon for the players' association, but also a significant problem if the players' association goes to war with MLB in the next round of talks. Once they get the new team in place, they will presumably try to hone strategy and priorities. ![]() The expectation is that the union will restructure its central group in some way, likely with the addition of more legal firepower. Now, said one source, Clark “is trying” to make it better. Back then, many agents felt shut out of the process, and after the final CBA terms were revealed, they felt the lack of dialogue and assessment was a serious mistake. “If that's going to continue, then we have some very difficult decisions to make moving forward.”Īs the union begins to formulate a badly needed strategy for the months and years ahead, sources continue to say that Clark and the union leadership have been engaged in substantive conversations with agents, a marked change from how business was conducted leading up to the last Collective Bargaining Agreement. ![]() “What we experienced last offseason was a direct attack on free agency, which has been a bedrock of our economic system,” he said. Last week, MLB union chief Tony Clark again expressed frustration with how last winter’s market played out, with the sluggish business for veteran free agents. Olney: Can the union achieve its goals in the social media era? You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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