Stark: As baseball celebrates its best at All-Star Game, labor issues loom
From SABR member Jayson Stark at The Athletic on July 18, 2018:
Nothing speaks more eloquently about the eternal beauty of baseball than to have the day of the All-Star Game arrive — and then we get to talk work stoppages!
But it was that kind of day in Washington on Tuesday. Storm clouds gathering over the ballpark. Storm clouds gathering over the sport. Doesn’t get much more uplifting than that.
Neither Rob Manfred, your esteemed commissioner of baseball, nor Tony Clark, your towering head of the players’ union, actually mouthed those words — “Work stoppage”— on Tuesday. They also did a fine job of avoiding other popular phrases like “strike,” “lockout” and “NLRB.”
But if you spent a couple of hours, as I did, listening to them talk about the state of the sport — not to mention the state of their relationship with each other — you’d be terrified right now. Terrified that things are bad and getting worse. And traditionally, that never ends well. Not in this sport.
Read the full article here (subscription required): https://theathletic.com/435892/2018/07/17/stark-even-as-baseball-celebrates-its-best-labor-issues-loom-over-the-all-star-game/
Originally published: July 18, 2018. Last Updated: July 18, 2018.