Scorecard

Players who crossed the picket line in 1995 are still searching for acceptance

By Mark Beech

For about two dozen major leaguers, there's something more at stake in the ongoing labor negotiations than their paychecks. The surviving members of baseball's Replacements -- the strike-breaking minor leaguers who participated in spring training in 1995 -- are hoping to finally win admittance to the players' union and erase their scab stigma. "The replacement players have always had the option to petition for membership," says Greg Bouris, the union's communications director. "But no player who has petitioned has been admitted."

The still active replacement players -- among them Braves reliever Kerry Ligtenberg, Twins starter Rick Reed and Yankees outfielder Shane Spencer -- hope that if they support the Major League Baseball Players Association by participating in a strike, they'll be welcomed into the union under a new collective bargaining agreement. (All of the active replacement players contacted by SI refused to be interviewed for this story.) Already, they receive most of the benefits of union members, including major league salaries. They have health insurance and pension plans, and they get assistance from union lawyers on appeals of league discipline and salary arbitration. Still, they are sometimes treated coolly by certain teammates and are often left out of strike-related clubhouse meetings. "Damian pays for his decision every day," says one Diamondbacks player of teammate Damian Miller, who worked out in the Twins camp during the strike. Miller, like the other strikebreakers, also pays more tangibly: He's not eligible to share in the union's licensing revenue (which can exceed $30,000 a year per player), and his name and likeness may not appear on any memorabilia approved by the players' association. After the Diamondbacks won the World Series last year, Miller, a catcher who played in all but one postseason game and had keyed Arizona's Series-winning rally in Game 7, was the only player whose name was not on the team's official championship T-shirt. Bouris acknowledges that players might be able to join the union under a new agreement but says, "That's a decision for our executive board at the appropriate time."

While the scabs have their share of supporters in the union, they're also up against some staunch opposition that has neither forgiven nor forgotten the spring of 1995. "If we welcomed guys who crossed the picket line, we'd be setting a bad precedent," says Indians reliever Mark Wohlers. "Would I let them into the union? Absolutely not."

Issue date: August 19, 2002

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