For those of us of a certain age, those of us who have been following baseball since the early 1970s, this is like those ultra-familiar moments every winter when the weather forecasters spot the coming blizzard and the tones of their voices shift ominously. Who knows how much snow is coming our way? A dusting? A few inches? A foot? Three feet? Snowmageddon?
Since 1972, baseball has encountered nine work stoppages: five strikes, four lockouts. Sometimes, all we got was a smattering of flurries, annoying enough to make your sidewalk and your driveway slippery, not enough to cause any real damage. Think of the 1985 strike, which lasted just two days in August, and the games were quickly and easily made up.
Sometimes it’s a little bit more than a dusting: Think of the 2021-22 lockout, which lasted 99 days but cost no games; or the 1980 strike (eight days, zero missed games); or the 1990 lockout (32 days, zero missed games); or the 1976 lockout (17 days, zero missed games). A couple of cars run into each other, but nobody’s hurt. A few people fall off stoops and porches; no blood.
Sometimes it’s 1972, a strike that lasted 13 days and cost 86 games, none of them made up, which was the first time a full season of games was played without full integrity: The Tigers and Red Sox both wound up with 70 losses, but the Tigers played, and won, one extra game and took the AL East by a half-game. And sometimes it’s 1981: 50 days, 713 games canceled. Massive school closings for those. Closed-up highways. Waiting in vain for snow plows and shovelers.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
