1994 Strike - sydrogerdavid's Blog

sydrogerdavid's Blog

1994 Strike

Posted on November 1, 2013 at 10:21 PM.

Last Journal

Countless fans have wondered what baseball could be like today if the owners and players could have gotten along in the 1994 season. Before the 1994 strike, the Montreal Expos had the best record in the league, 74-40. They had superstars such as Moises Alou, Larry Walker, Cliff Floyd, Pedro Martinez, and John Wetteland. The players strike in August brought an end to this potential World Series team. The owner of the Expos lost so much money during the strike, he was forced to sell his star players, effectively gutting the team of talent. The Expos never came close to a playoff berth again and the fans lost interest. Now we know them as the Washington Nationals.

Similar situations happened to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the other Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays had won the World Series the year prior in 1993, as well as 1992. Although they were having a tough season in 1994, the strike forced the owner to sell off stars like Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar. Unlike the Expos, the Toronto fans stayed with their team and they are now a threat in the AL East.

Maybe on the other side of the picture though, the strike may have been the reason Anheuser-Busch sold the Cardinals to Bill DeWitt. They had also lost so much money after the strike that they couldn�t afford to keep the team. They were probably losing money before the strike anyway because the team was so bad. Luckily for us, they sold the team to a man who actually knew how to run a ball club. Bill DeWitt hired Walt Jocketty, who in turn allowed a reason for Tony La Russa and his coaching staff to arrive in St. Louis.