Another day without major-league baseball and so we must move on to other peripheral concerns such as Cal Ripken’s heroic consecutive-game streak, the choosing of a Most Valuable Player and the possibility of a new league populated by striking players who insist they will jump off the roof of the John Hancock Building before agreeing to a salary cap.
Baltimore’s Ripken finished the shortened season with his streak at 2,009 games-121 shy of Lou Gehrig’s record 2,130, an ironman achievement once believed to be unapproachable. Ripken hasn’t missed a game since May 30, 1982.
Now for the knotty problem.
What if the Orioles fill up with minor-league players and open the ’95 season with Ripken on the picket line? Does Ripken’s streak remain intact until he and all of his fellow big leaguers return?
“I don’t like to talk about it,” said Seymour Siwoff of the Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistician for both the National and American Leagues. “We’re hoping it doesn’t come to that.”
And if it does?
“The streak would be broken. We had the National Football League (1987 strike). The owners used replacement players and all the consecutive-game records came to an end. There wasn’t much publicity on it but that’s what happened.”
There is always the possibility that the Players Association would give Ripken a so-called special dispensation that would allow him to play. I am sure he would turn it down. But he is obviously upset with the situation and has not responded to calls for interviews.
“Cal is very quiet,” said Tom Keegan of the Baltimore Sun. “He’s not a militant. I am sure he is not comfortable commenting about it.”
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The baseball writers, myself included, may have been hasty at our last national meeting in Pittsburgh during the All-Star break in July. A resolution was passed that if the season was not completed we would, nonetheless, conduct the annual balloting for the most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Rookie and Manager of the Year awards.
Some scribes are now questioning this decision, particularly in regard to the MVP. The reasoning goes like this: Because of the absence of the post-season there are no championship or even second- or third-place teams, so what’s he the MVP of? If the voting was simply for the best player there would not be a problem, but the MVP is the most valuable player to his team. It’s a significant difference.
Whatever, I am pleased that White Sox slugger Frank Thomas got his numbers in. The Big Hurt became the third player to bat over .300, with 20 or more home runs, 100 or more runs batted in, 100 or more walks and 100 runs for four consecutive seasons. Quite an achievement considering the Sox played only 113 games.
And now for the formation of a new league, which for the second time is a glint in the eye of Dick Moss, the highly mobile, bi-coastal player agent and, for 10 years during the Marvin Miller era, the chief counsel for the Players Association.
Three or four years ago, Moss spent much time and study with the intention of founding a third major league, which never got off the ground. What with the players strike et al, he is at it again.
When I reached him Monday at his California home he was hurrying for a flight to New York but did have a few minutes.
“There are a lot of people interested,” Moss disclosed. “And it keeps increasing. But I can’t give their names. We have a confidentiality agreement with each other. The only question is can it be done quickly enough? Our goal is to get it operative by next April. That’s the challenge.”
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Could he corral enough major-league players?
“A 28-team league is not realistic,” Moss explained. “We may be able to field as many as 15 or 16 teams. The players would have an equity interest.”
If the players became owners, wouldn’t this destroy the Players Association? The players, in effect, would be management.
“That’s true,” Moss replied. “But we can have an organization of players.”
I don’t quite understand what this means. But I do know that essentially a union and/or association exists for the purpose of fighting with management. Without management, there is no opponent.
And what about ballparks? Where would his teams play?
“Maybe Jerry Reinsdorf will try to cut his losses and sublet Comiskey Park to us,” Moss said. “I’ll talk more about it when it’s a done deal.”
The odds against a new league are about 99-1. I said goodbye and wished him good fortune.