Twenty-five years ago, Scott McGregor was among the best pitchers in baseball.
The former Oriole was set to make the All-Star team and help keep his team in contention for the American League East pennant. However, that all came into doubt on June 12, 1981 when the players went on strike. Unlike previous stoppages, which had little impact on the regular season, this players? strike lasted 50 days and cost the sport 712 games.
“(In) those days, nobody ever would negotiate,” said McGregor, who was the Orioles players? representative and a member of the union?s executive committee. “The owners would make a proposal, and I?d say, ?Let?s give them a counter-proposal.? Well if we do, then we?re weak. If we?re weak, then they?re going to crush us.
“The only way everybody would save face was [to go] on strike. Now that we were on strike, we had to negotiate, and that used to drive me nuts. We could have had it done, but nobody wanted to be the one to give in.”
The strike, which centered on the owners? desire to be directly compensated for the loss of free agents, ended on July 31. By the time the season restarted with the All-Star Game Aug. 9 in Cleveland, 38 percent of the season had been lost. Players had lost an estimated $4 million a week in salary, and owners had lost a combined $72 million.
“Those were tough times,” said McGregor, now the pitching coach at Double-A Bowie.
Losing so many games in the middle of the season led the owners to split the season into two halves with the division winners from each half advancing to a best-of-five divisional series before moving on the best-of-five league championship series.
Former Orioles outfielder Al Bumbry said the split-season setup hurt the team?s chances of making the playoffs that year. The Orioles finished in second place to the New York Yankees in the A.L. East in the first half of the season before falling to fourth in the second half. Combined, the Orioles finished 59-46, which was behind only the Milwaukee Brewers (62-47).
1981 STRIKE NOTES
» The 1981 strike was the sport?s fifth work stoppage dating back to 1972.
» Current Oriole coaches Terry Crowley and Rick Dempsey, along with Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations Mike Flanagan and Oriole broadcaster and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, were all a part of the 1981 team.
? Staff writer Sean Welsh contributed to this story.
