NFL PLAYERS STRIKE: DAY 10 : Raiders’ Judge Reaches Verdict: He’ll Cross Line

From the Raider elder statesman, who has kept the team in stitches lo these many years, came a dire promise Thursday night: If the strike continues next week, he’s crossing the picket line. It’s academic.

“There are 43,000 reasons,” said Lester Hayes, a reference to the 43,000 deceased presidents--his term for dollars--he’s forsaking each week by striking.

“I’ve got to go in next week. I’ve got investments to maintain. . . . If the strike persists next week, you will see an abundance of individuals going in who are over 30 years old (Hayes is 34). It’s only economics. We don’t have much time left.”

That was another point Hayes made. He knows he may be near, or at, the end of the line.

Hayes was forced to go on injured reserve just before the season started, prompting speculation throughout the organization and the playing roster that he might never again be activated.

To get paid, a player on injured reserve has to report for treatment, in Hayes’ case for two sore toes on his left foot, but he has stayed away, as has 35-year-old Henry Lawrence, another veteran on the injured list, picketing in what is expected to be his Raider farewell at a cost of $23,000 a week.

“I’m persevering now for the younger players,” Hayes said. “The younger players who are coming out of college, they’re very, very naive and gullible to the NFL as a business. And with free agency, guys like Sammy Seale and Dokie Williams could have a fair opportunity to start on some other team. That’s why I’m staying out.”

Has he been speaking to other players? Will he have company crossing the line?

“I can’t tell you who, but hell yes,” Hayes said.

“The guys who are 30 years old have got to think about going back, because they can’t ever make this type of salary again. If you’re 30 years old, your days in the NFL are numbered.

“I thank God I’m one of the top 50 minority landowners in the state of Texas. I thank God for that but I have to maintain that investment.

“The guys in their fifth and sixth years can make that money back. The guys in their 30s, they will never make $43,000 a week outside football.

“But I’m persevering for the younger players. If the old guys don’t take care of the young players, it’s Exploitation 101. These kids are 21 years old, young, naive, gullible. They think the NFL is on the same par with college football. In essence, they’re blind to the business side of football, the injustices. That’s why I’m staying out. I want the young guys to be free.”

And this particular old guy, is he in trouble?

“I’ve gone to three foot specialists,” Hayes said, “and I got the same exact prognosis. . . . I went to the jock doctors and they say, ‘Take two Anacins and tape it up.’ It’s kind of difficult to chase Vance Johnson with taped tootsies.

“I went to Dr. Frank Jobe. I saw Dr. Phillip Kanter at Cedars Sinai. Tomorrow I’m seeing a foot specialist in Marina Del Rey. After almost 10 months, why is it still painful?”

Does he worry he could be through?

“Yes, of course,” Hayes said. “I can’t do the things I once did. I cannot explode off my left foot. I’m frightened. It’s academic. I’m extremely frightened. My explosion to the football is what made me famous.

“It’s very asinine, individuals saying he claims to have pain (as Coach Tom Flores did). It’s really, really fascinating--he claims . I played last year with a broken foot while we were getting the . . . beaten out of us (at Seattle).

“I want to play again. I played 148 straight games. All I do in the off-season while other guys are going Hollywood is think about how Chuck Knox is opening up his offense. I’m thinking about how the young Tom Landry in Denver (Dan Reeves) is going to manipulate Mike Haynes and I. My mentality is football.”

Fourteen clubs have had nobody cross the picket line. The Raiders have had one active player, Marc Wilson, plus four on injured reserve: Mickey Marvin, Curt Marsh, Chris Riehm and Shelby Jordan.