On June 11, Marvin Miller—the executive direc-
tor of the Major League Baseball Players Associa-
tion, who led the negotiations—announced that
the players would commence a work stoppage on
June 12. Although there were previous player work
stoppages, the 1981 strike represented the first time
that players had walked out during the regular sea-
son. On July 31, 1981, the owners agreed to a resolu-
tion. The 1981 season resumed with the All-Star
Game on August 9, and regular season games re-
sumed on August 10. As a result of the strike, 713
games were canceled.
A second work stoppage by players during regular-
season play occurred on August 6, 1985. The causes
of the second strike included free agency, arbitra-
tion salary caps, and salary minimums. The strike
ended on August 8, when the owners agreed to drop
their demand for a salary cap. In addition, the mini-
mum player salary was increased from $40,000 to
$50,000.
Strikes were not limited to players. Major-league
umpires struck for one week, between September 30
and October 7, 1984. As a result, the first game of the
National League Championship Series was offici-
ated by college umpires.
During the 1980’s, a number of baseball’s high-
performance players, such as Jack Morris, Carlton
Fisk, and Andre Dawson, tested the free-agent mar-
ket. Surprisingly, no teams made an offer for these
players. Miller asserted that owners were engaged in
a conspiracy not to sign players who opted for free
agency. Miller contended that owners were engaged
in unlawful collusion, and a grievance was filed. The
baseball establishment of twenty-six owners and the
commissioner of baseball were found guilty of en-
gaging in collusion during a three-year period in the
1980’s. The owners were required to pay $280 mil-
lion in lost wages.Drugs and Gambling Baseball was confronted with
a public relations disaster in 1985, when twenty-one
active players testified that they had used cocaine. In
1986, thirty-one more players were fined for drug
use. On September 20, 1985, Curtis Strong, a Phila-
delphia caterer, was found guilty of eleven counts
of selling cocaine to major-league players between
1980 and 1983. To demonstrate that baseball’s lead-
ership would not tolerate drug abuse within its estab-
lishment, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth on June
18, 1985, announced that a mandatory drug-testing
program would be instituted in July, 1985, for play-
ers and umpires in the minor leagues. In August of
1985, drug testing became required of all major-
league managers, coaches, trainers, and umpires as
well. The players association voted against manda-
tory testing of players. They did, however, agree to
drug testing as part of a labor contract.
One of baseball’s most popular players in the
1980’s, Pete Rose began his baseball career with the
Cincinnati Reds in 1963. When he retired as a player
in 1986, he had become the all-time hits leader with
4,256 career hits and the all-time leader in at-bats
with 14,043. He ranked second in career doubles
with 746, and he finished ten seasons with two hun-
dred or more hits in each. After playing for the Phila-
delphia Phillies for five seasons and one-half year
with the Montreal Expos in 1984, he returned to theThe Eighties in America Baseball 91
Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti announces his decision to
ban Pete Rose from baseball in August, 1989.(AP/Wide World
Photos)