So with all this boring and infuriating labor talk taking up the spaces that should be filled with baseball, I thought it might be fun to look back at a classic of the genre, one that will be familiar to all of you who have read the classic Lords of the Realm
How ironic that although Raines missed the first month of the season, he had a significantly better year than Dawson. Highest HR and RBI totals of his career, stole 50 and hit .330. That first game back against the Mets was epic. 4/5, 3R, 4 RBI, HR, triple, SB. Grand slam in the top of the 10th. One of the most incredible games I've seen.
A lot of this boils down to selling people a dream. The minor leaguers think they will get to the majors. The young major leaguers think they will become stars who are paid tens of millions. The same thing happens in real life. People go along with stripping unions of their power and corporate welfare and tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations because they are hoping they can get to be one of the 1% one day. Maybe that’s just part of capitalism…
Thanks Joe, I remember Mr. Dawson very well,, a very, very good BALL player--nothing like the folks today. It is different times though, right? Today, just to show who is Boss (the Baseball Team and the Fans), the owners would just say "don't let the door hit ya in the kiester when leaving. The owners,, can you write a story that will clearly show the young-ins of today, how good we had it when we were younger,, a compare, contrast and get sick type of truth the owners will really, really dislike. I remember Charlie Finley having a few discussions with the Commission back in-the-day,, and of course, Steinbrenner, always a good story line. Whoops,, I am wandering again,,, take care, stay Healthy and forever Blessed!
Thanks Joe. I wasn’t young when that whole collusion stuff happened so can’t use that as an excuse, but I had pretty much forgotten about the entire thing. So appropriate to bring it back to life with your story. And really don’t remember the Andre Dawson story at all.
That may be because although the part about the fill-in-the-blank contract was a big deal in the news, I think the media underplayed the undercurrents of collusion at the time. The sports media typically goes with a narrative that they like & don't necessarily dig into the details as they should. Joe is certainly an exception. If these stories were being written widely, then the fans wouldn't be against the players so much.
And Tim Raines would have one of the greatest single regular season games in MLB history in his first game he was allowed to play, May 2 against the Mets. One of my favorite sports memories. Baseball!
Joe I loved this article. As a fan born in the 90s, I barely heard about the collusion scandal over the years. This really puts the whole thing into historical perspective of how far the players have come but also how they need to keep fighting to keep up with the owners who keep getting richer.
Fun side note. In mid 80’s I’m in Japan. Everyone is raving about this American player. I don’t speak Japanese so have no idea who they’re talking about. I’m visiting Japanese family, and kids are crowded around TV playing the most amazing video baseball game I've ever seen. Then they plug in a Donkey Kong knockoff game. There is nothing like this in U.S. The kid wants to play the big ‘gaijin’. I tell him one of few words I know, ‘Yakyu’. He picks cartridge, selects Hanshin Tigers, bc some guy named ‘Ba-su’ (Randy Bass). I don’t know a Japanese team. Another kid picks Swallows for me, bc they have player called ‘Hoh - Na’. Holy crap! It’s ‘Blob’ Horner! When did he come over here? Anyway, console and play was incredible. Had to get one of these in ‘States. Except, they didn’t have them in the States. Japan Co.’s delayed launching stuff in U.S. Electronics, cars, you name it. By intention or luck, everything in US was two or more years behind what was in Japan. The Nintendo, Mario Brothers, all it wouldn’t get to US for another couple of years. So learned there was a whole ‘dark market’, ‘bootleg’. Go to Japan. Buy stuff. Bring back to U.S. Consoles, cartridges. Digital cassette players? Banned in U.S. Turns out in many instances the world (in this case Japan) really had cooler stuff than available in U.S. So why take a recycled Bob Horner? Now I know. Thanks Joe! BTW. In Japan Bob’s money went a lot further than same amount in U.S.
Horner, after hitting 27 HRs for the Braves, hit 31 HRs and batted .327 in 93 games in Japan. He then came back and played one subpar season with the Cardinals and was done. I know he had knee issues, so I assume injuries did him in.
Joe, a question: is it possible that some BBWAA writers voted for Dawson as MVP in part because of all the drama? Yes, he led in HRs and RBIs back when that was a big deal, but I wonder if even just a couple writers trying to decide among Dawson and Ozzie might've given the edge to Dawson out of sympathy or to stick it to the owners. Or would BBWAA voters not have cared?
Dawson's MVP has long been held up as one of the worse misses, so it'd interesting to note if this was part of the story.
I think it was the big traditional numbers, especially the 49 HRs, after the fill-in-the-blanks contract at a significant discount... and his popularity with the Cubs fans, in an obviously big media market.
If anything I think they would have been biased against Dawson. I was too young to be paying attention at the time, but my understanding was the press was long in the owners corner. Even today they point out that Scherzer arrives in a porche (to negotiate with people who have enough money to own Porche the company).
As a teenager and Expos fan I was just beginning to understand (if one can possibly understand) the economics of baseball.
We had just lost Gary Carter because of salary demands and I idolized Hawk and Rock. These were icons of the franchise and then suddenly Hawk was gone to the Cubs and then he won the MVP.
Little did I know this was the future of the Expos I had grown up with.
Raines gone a few years later. Grissom, Walker Deshields all rookies together. Grissom leaves, Walker leaves without an offer and wins an MVP, somehow we get this Pedro kid, but we can't keep him either.
Then Vlad and then he's gone and wins an MVP. Expos University. Spend your few years then leave for a real job that pays
This is a great piece. It also illustrates the problem with baseball economic structure in a nonobvious way. Most the players on that list were near (or frankly already at) then end of their productive years. They should’ve *already* made the bulk of their money. I doubt any GMs would be lining up today to give them big money deals, not because of collusion, but because their projected production wouldn’t have warranted it.
Oh, there were a couple of guys that were either at or near the end or overrated to begin with, but Dawson got 8.9 WAR over the two years they offered a pay cut. Raines got 14.1 over his 3 years. That made Dawson a top 25 player and Raines a top 20 player over the time of the contracts they were offered.
"Projected production" was nowhere near as advanced then as now. The players named were at the stage when they expected to get PAID. And absent the near-criminal conspiracy by the owners, all the ones mentioned in this piece would have been.
Yes, that’s my point, once owners stopped colluding that’s how a lot of baseball players got paid the big bucks—by signing fat deals after their production had waned. It was an imperfect system but at least players were getting paid. Now GMs are too savvy to do that, which is a big part of the current predicament—young stars way outperform their team-controlled deals and then often don’t get that overpay on the other end.
Dallas Green. You can talk all you want about the curse of the Billy goat, day games, overly loyal fans, Harry Carey, whatever - the reason the Cubs didn’t win is they employed feckless A-holes like Green. Over and over again.
I hope the Players are reading this because it might wind them up to hold out on the salary threshold just as reparations for the owner
Eff-ery that went on even AFTER Miller won Free Agency.
"A proud man." Those three words are what distinguish players from owners. The players see themselves as people selling a service and the wear and tear on their bodies and mind, and they take pride in this identity. Owners see them, the way most "job creators" since Reagan see "labor," as fungible masses of meat with arms. And when the behavioral economics of the former meets classical economics--with its horseshit strawman, the rational economic actor--of the latter, the former ALWAYS wins in the end.
Fantastic piece.
Or, as Bill James put it, "the Super-Colluder".
How ironic that although Raines missed the first month of the season, he had a significantly better year than Dawson. Highest HR and RBI totals of his career, stole 50 and hit .330. That first game back against the Mets was epic. 4/5, 3R, 4 RBI, HR, triple, SB. Grand slam in the top of the 10th. One of the most incredible games I've seen.
A lot of this boils down to selling people a dream. The minor leaguers think they will get to the majors. The young major leaguers think they will become stars who are paid tens of millions. The same thing happens in real life. People go along with stripping unions of their power and corporate welfare and tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations because they are hoping they can get to be one of the 1% one day. Maybe that’s just part of capitalism…
Thanks Joe, I remember Mr. Dawson very well,, a very, very good BALL player--nothing like the folks today. It is different times though, right? Today, just to show who is Boss (the Baseball Team and the Fans), the owners would just say "don't let the door hit ya in the kiester when leaving. The owners,, can you write a story that will clearly show the young-ins of today, how good we had it when we were younger,, a compare, contrast and get sick type of truth the owners will really, really dislike. I remember Charlie Finley having a few discussions with the Commission back in-the-day,, and of course, Steinbrenner, always a good story line. Whoops,, I am wandering again,,, take care, stay Healthy and forever Blessed!
Thanks Joe. I wasn’t young when that whole collusion stuff happened so can’t use that as an excuse, but I had pretty much forgotten about the entire thing. So appropriate to bring it back to life with your story. And really don’t remember the Andre Dawson story at all.
That may be because although the part about the fill-in-the-blank contract was a big deal in the news, I think the media underplayed the undercurrents of collusion at the time. The sports media typically goes with a narrative that they like & don't necessarily dig into the details as they should. Joe is certainly an exception. If these stories were being written widely, then the fans wouldn't be against the players so much.
And Tim Raines would have one of the greatest single regular season games in MLB history in his first game he was allowed to play, May 2 against the Mets. One of my favorite sports memories. Baseball!
This was fantastic, thanks, Joe! I had completely forgotten this.
Joe I loved this article. As a fan born in the 90s, I barely heard about the collusion scandal over the years. This really puts the whole thing into historical perspective of how far the players have come but also how they need to keep fighting to keep up with the owners who keep getting richer.
Fun side note. In mid 80’s I’m in Japan. Everyone is raving about this American player. I don’t speak Japanese so have no idea who they’re talking about. I’m visiting Japanese family, and kids are crowded around TV playing the most amazing video baseball game I've ever seen. Then they plug in a Donkey Kong knockoff game. There is nothing like this in U.S. The kid wants to play the big ‘gaijin’. I tell him one of few words I know, ‘Yakyu’. He picks cartridge, selects Hanshin Tigers, bc some guy named ‘Ba-su’ (Randy Bass). I don’t know a Japanese team. Another kid picks Swallows for me, bc they have player called ‘Hoh - Na’. Holy crap! It’s ‘Blob’ Horner! When did he come over here? Anyway, console and play was incredible. Had to get one of these in ‘States. Except, they didn’t have them in the States. Japan Co.’s delayed launching stuff in U.S. Electronics, cars, you name it. By intention or luck, everything in US was two or more years behind what was in Japan. The Nintendo, Mario Brothers, all it wouldn’t get to US for another couple of years. So learned there was a whole ‘dark market’, ‘bootleg’. Go to Japan. Buy stuff. Bring back to U.S. Consoles, cartridges. Digital cassette players? Banned in U.S. Turns out in many instances the world (in this case Japan) really had cooler stuff than available in U.S. So why take a recycled Bob Horner? Now I know. Thanks Joe! BTW. In Japan Bob’s money went a lot further than same amount in U.S.
Horner, after hitting 27 HRs for the Braves, hit 31 HRs and batted .327 in 93 games in Japan. He then came back and played one subpar season with the Cardinals and was done. I know he had knee issues, so I assume injuries did him in.
Joe, a question: is it possible that some BBWAA writers voted for Dawson as MVP in part because of all the drama? Yes, he led in HRs and RBIs back when that was a big deal, but I wonder if even just a couple writers trying to decide among Dawson and Ozzie might've given the edge to Dawson out of sympathy or to stick it to the owners. Or would BBWAA voters not have cared?
Dawson's MVP has long been held up as one of the worse misses, so it'd interesting to note if this was part of the story.
I think it was the big traditional numbers, especially the 49 HRs, after the fill-in-the-blanks contract at a significant discount... and his popularity with the Cubs fans, in an obviously big media market.
If anything I think they would have been biased against Dawson. I was too young to be paying attention at the time, but my understanding was the press was long in the owners corner. Even today they point out that Scherzer arrives in a porche (to negotiate with people who have enough money to own Porche the company).
As a teenager and Expos fan I was just beginning to understand (if one can possibly understand) the economics of baseball.
We had just lost Gary Carter because of salary demands and I idolized Hawk and Rock. These were icons of the franchise and then suddenly Hawk was gone to the Cubs and then he won the MVP.
Little did I know this was the future of the Expos I had grown up with.
Raines gone a few years later. Grissom, Walker Deshields all rookies together. Grissom leaves, Walker leaves without an offer and wins an MVP, somehow we get this Pedro kid, but we can't keep him either.
Then Vlad and then he's gone and wins an MVP. Expos University. Spend your few years then leave for a real job that pays
Don't forget a young and wild Randy Johnson, too.
This is a great piece. It also illustrates the problem with baseball economic structure in a nonobvious way. Most the players on that list were near (or frankly already at) then end of their productive years. They should’ve *already* made the bulk of their money. I doubt any GMs would be lining up today to give them big money deals, not because of collusion, but because their projected production wouldn’t have warranted it.
Oh, there were a couple of guys that were either at or near the end or overrated to begin with, but Dawson got 8.9 WAR over the two years they offered a pay cut. Raines got 14.1 over his 3 years. That made Dawson a top 25 player and Raines a top 20 player over the time of the contracts they were offered.
"Projected production" was nowhere near as advanced then as now. The players named were at the stage when they expected to get PAID. And absent the near-criminal conspiracy by the owners, all the ones mentioned in this piece would have been.
Yes, that’s my point, once owners stopped colluding that’s how a lot of baseball players got paid the big bucks—by signing fat deals after their production had waned. It was an imperfect system but at least players were getting paid. Now GMs are too savvy to do that, which is a big part of the current predicament—young stars way outperform their team-controlled deals and then often don’t get that overpay on the other end.
Dallas Green. You can talk all you want about the curse of the Billy goat, day games, overly loyal fans, Harry Carey, whatever - the reason the Cubs didn’t win is they employed feckless A-holes like Green. Over and over again.
I hope the Players are reading this because it might wind them up to hold out on the salary threshold just as reparations for the owner
Eff-ery that went on even AFTER Miller won Free Agency.
As a Tigers fan, I remember being quite pissed off at Tigers management in their treatment of Parrish.
Same.
"A proud man." Those three words are what distinguish players from owners. The players see themselves as people selling a service and the wear and tear on their bodies and mind, and they take pride in this identity. Owners see them, the way most "job creators" since Reagan see "labor," as fungible masses of meat with arms. And when the behavioral economics of the former meets classical economics--with its horseshit strawman, the rational economic actor--of the latter, the former ALWAYS wins in the end.