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Baseball is experiencing its first labor lockout since the 1994-95 season.
This is not the first time the league has experienced a labor stoppage. Since 1972, the league has been forced to pause nine different times. Each strike occurred for varying reasons and ranged from 1 day (the 1985 strike) to 232 days (the 1994-1995 strike). The current lockout began at 12:01 AM EST on December 2, 2021.
Business owners use a lockout to stop all work during a labor dispute. It should be clarified that a lockout is not a strike, as the orders not to show up to work come from the management rather than the players themselves. Franchise owners use the lockout as a tool to renegotiate the league’s collective bargaining agreement, which expired at the same time the lockout began.
The MLB’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is an essential part of all functions of the league and dictates all things from how long the season will last to what kind of per diem players receive on the road. It also addresses the greater economics of the game, such as free agency and arbitration.
The MLB team owners are apprehensive about adopting a new CBA, as the previous one was highly beneficial for them. Club owners demanded expanded playoffs for the new CBA as they stand to receive one hundred percent of postseason television revenue. In exchange for this new playoff system, they offered the players a shortened regular season and the implementation of a universal designated hitter, which would eliminate the need for pitchers to bat and allow for many higher-scoring games. Nonetheless, the franchise owners seek to maintain most of the provisions implemented with the previous CBA, as they were highly profitable.
The players’ demands are quite different. Their biggest concern is the dwindling percentage of revenue going towards the players’ salaries. Currently, the players collectively earn less than fifty percent of all income. This number trails both other major US sports leagues, the National Football League (NFL) and National Basketball Association (NBA).
The players also want protection from spending too much time in the minor leagues as they fear being offered a smaller contract. This sort of manipulation is quite common in the MLB and has resulted in many talented players making their major league debut much later than anticipated.
Players also want the rules of free agency changed. They have requested that players become eligible to be deemed a free agent at the age of 29.5 if they have played in the pro league for five years or all players who have played for six years – whichever comes first.
In addition, the player’s union wants the salaries for younger athletes to increase to match their talent, rather than having to wait several years for a large payday.
As for the expanded playoffs, athletes are worried that more teams in the postseason will allow them to spend less on players, as teams will have increased odds of sneaking into the playoffs and gain all the postseason TV revenue benefits.
Finally, the union also wants tanking to change. In baseball, tanking is when a team deliberately trades away star players to maintain a lower payroll. Some teams, like the Baltimore Orioles, have tanked recently, accumulating many high draft picks, all while paying their entire roster $42 million. This number is $100 million less than 14 other teams in the league. The union wants to end the process immediately and incentivize all teams to win.
While one might be quick to propose an antitrust lawsuit to rectify the situation, the reality is much more difficult. In 1922, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the case of Baseball Club of Baltimore, Inc. v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs et al. that the Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore was not subject to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
In Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s opinion, he found that “[t]he business is giving exhibitions of baseball,” which are “purely state affairs.” He said that baseball needed to cross state lines to maintain its popularity. As long as the athletes are free men and are being compensated, baseball clubs were to be an exception from antitrust laws.
This ruling was challenged several times, most notably in 1972, with the case Flood v. Kuhn. In this case, Curtis Flood, an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, sued the Commissioner of Baseball, Bowie Kuhn, after he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies without his consent. He claimed the MLB violated federal antitrust laws, civil rights laws, state statutes, the common law, and the Thirteenth Amendment. The court concluded that the original ruling was an “anomaly” but let it stand in a 5-3 vote.
Since a lawsuit is not an option, negotiations are the path to rectifying this conflict. On January 13, 2022, the MLB made its first labor proposal since the beginning of the lockout. In this meeting, the league offered to make changes to the arbitration system with players who had been pro for two or more years.
While this proposal did not meet the union’s demands, the MLB hoped that this offer would promote better negotiations between the two parties. Both parties considered resolving the dispute before the mid-February reporting date for pitchers and catchers of paramount importance and feared the threat of losing regular-season games.
On February 4, 2022, the MLB officially requested federal mediation to assist with the ongoing labor dispute. However, the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) declined the governments’ aid and called for further communication between parties. While this decision does not come as a surprise, it does show how broken the relationship between the two parties is and how desperate the MLB is to avoid canceling spring training and regular-season games.
After the rejection, the MLB released a statement calling for an impartial third party’s assistance to “help bridge gaps and facilitate an agreement.”
The situation has grown so dire that the U.S. labor secretary, Marty Walsh, offered his assistance to “help facilitate productive conversations that result in the best outcome for workers and employers.”
While it is unclear when or how the current lockout will end, the baseball world is on the edge of its seats, waiting to see how it gets resolved.
Update: The MLB lockout ended on March 10, 2022, after the MLBPA and the club owners reached an agreement for a new CBA.