Recalling Past Strikes : As Businessman, DeCinces Sees the Issues From Both Sides Now

Doug DeCinces is a spectator this time. The former Angel third baseman said all he knows about the impending baseball strike is what he reads in the newspaper.

Even at that, it’s hard for him not to take a personal interest.

The issue, as always, is money and who gets it. DeCinces knows the drill well. He remembers playing hardball in 1981--not on the field, but in the boardroom.

That players’ strike lasted 50 days and canceled 712 games. DeCinces was the American League players’ representative then and was knee-deep in the negotiation process. So he looks back at that now, then looks ahead to Friday’s strike date.

“Free agency was destroying baseball,” said DeCinces, who is now part-owner of DeCinces Properties, a development and property management company. “That’s what they told us in 1981. There was doomsday all around. The rich teams were going to get richer and the poor teams were going to be out of it.

“I’m not active in the negotiations now, so I can’t say if there are similarities between then and now. I’ll let others decide that.”

Still, DeCinces can’t help but dabble a little from the sideline. He hears the word salary cap and it means one thing.

“Seems to me, they’re trying to stop free agency,” he said. “ ‘The salaries were ruining the game.’ That’s what it always seems to be about.”

The issue was the same through three work stoppages when DeCinces was a player--the lockout in 1976 and the walkouts in 1981 and 1985.

The owners, he said, have never accepted free agency.

“In 1981, the players were being paid too much money,” DeCinces said. “The owners could afford it. It was the same thing in 1976. But no player has ever held a gun to an owner’s head and said, ‘If you don’t pay me, I’m going to pull the trigger.’ ”

The owners’ failure to contribute to the players’ pension fund two weeks ago was a clear signal to DeCinces that a strike is unavoidable. He said it was a sign that the owners wanted a walkout, as they did in 1981.

DeCinces spent five years as the league’s player representative and another two as a consultant to the players’ union. The players, he said, did everything to avoid a walkout in 1981, even to the point of having an independent study drawn up that analyzed the effect of free agency.

In the end, DeCinces said, they were forced into a corner.

“We worked all through 1980 trying to discuss what were the No. 1 issues,” DeCinces said. “It all ended up being non-productive. We had some great one-way conversations. They stalled and stalled and stalled. We went a good 18 months without signing an agreement. There was no other option, we had to go out.”

Ray Grebey, chief negotiator for the owners in 1981, called it a million-dollar strike over a 10-cent issue.

The issue, as DeCinces saw it, was worth a lot more. The owners, armed with a $50-million strike insurance policy, were testing the players’ will and unity.

“They tried to break up the (players’) association,” DeCinces said. “I think the owners were legitimately upset at the situation and they felt they needed to do it. I don’t think they felt the players would stand up for their rights. They found out we would.”

On June 12, the players walked out. For DeCinces, it was the beginning of a two-month ordeal.

He spent the strike shuttling between meetings in New York and Washington. He traveled the country, not playing ball, but playing messenger, keeping others up to date on the dealings.

“I sure didn’t get any time off,” DeCinces said. “I was in meetings or traveling 41 straight days. I kept saying, ‘Let’s talk about the issues.’ But the issues were not to be discussed.”

When the strike fund evaporated, the issues were settled. The players returned to work. The owners returned to paying high salaries to free agents. The fans, eventually, forgave both parties.

Almost everyone came back with his eyes open.

“You look at it as a sport, but it is very much a business,” DeCinces said. “The owners have their positions and the players have theirs. You just hope that the business side doesn’t destroy the sport.”

Which is what DeCinces fears might happen with another strike. But he does see some encouraging signs and one significant difference from 1981.

“The owners are directly involved with the negotiations,” DeCinces said “They weren’t in 1981 and that caused the lengthy delay. It turned out that one owner would be told one thing and another owner would be told something different.”

And DeCinces, now the businessman, can see the issue from the other side as well.

“The owners have to deal with the economic side, and that’s important, too,” he said. “Hopefully, there’ll be some common ground before there are major problems.”