Replacement Players – Scabs!

Posted By on March 4, 2022

Who remembers the 1995 Replacement players?  Those that remember that time know full well that the option of owners playing a season with replacement players is not an option that can be ever considered again.

Spring training 1995 was three weeks of comedic exhibition baseball.  Former Major Leaguer Pedro Borbon returned to pitch for the Reds at age 48.  After striking out his first hitter, he attempted to field a sacrifice a bunt.  Out of shape and about 40 pounds overweight, he deposited the throw to first into the stands while his portly self -flopped to the ground in a tumble that registered about 4.5 on the Richter scale.  He was immediately released after the game.

Open tryouts were held in several cities by Major League clubs.  Most minor leaguers with a shot at the majors didn’t dare cross the picket line.  They saw the writing on the wall and the ramifications they would experience if they crossed that line and were labeled as scabs.  The replacement players that agreed to do so were primarily were those guys that knew they wouldn’t have a chance to ever sniff a major league clubhouse.  They saw this as their only opportunity. 

Buzzie Bavasi, of Dodger, Padre and Angels GM lore told the story of a former Arizona State player that started for his Angels at shortstop.  There was a routine groundball hit to him.  He attempted to throw the runner out at first.  He overthrew the bag and it caromed off a concrete wall back to the first baseman who fielded it and tagged out the runner as he lingered off first after the overthrow.  “And that was the first-ever replacement player play, a 6 to-wall-to-3 tag-out.”

The Marlins signed a truck driver, a high school teacher, and a couple of softball players.  The Angels had an FBI agent on the roster.  Another player was arrested by the Maricopa County sheriff during the national anthem for failure to pay child support. (Probably could have used his FBI agent teammate for that).

 Mental mistakes on the field were at a premium.  Cut-off men were ghosts.  Wild pitches and passed balls were the norm.  Breaking balls were thrown behind the hitter’s backs.  It was reported that in one game Angels replacement players ran into four outs on the bases in addition to committing five errors. 

“The team that can get the most guys out of the whirlpool and onto the field will have the best chance at a championship,” said Pirates Manager Jim Leyland.  Sparky Anderson couldn’t stomach the travesty that he was witnessing and threatened to quit.  He took an unpaid leave of absence in defiance of his owner’s stance.

$5,000 signing bonuses were offered to the replacements and that $78 per diem on travel days looked awfully nice to these guys who dreamed of the perks that major leaguers enjoyed.

The Ramifications of crossing the picket line

Matt Herges was a serviceable major league prospect in 1994, but he was years away from making it to the show.  An opportunity surfaced when the Major League players struck, and he didn’t think things through.  He crossed the picket line.  Little did he know as a 23-year-old that he made a decision he would regret for the rest of his career.

Herges never was allowed to become a member of the MLBPA.  Banned for life along with a dozen or so eventual Major Leaguers that were labeled as scabs.  Among them were Kevin Millar, Frank Menechino, Brendon Donnely, Shane Spencer, Benny Agbayani, Cory Lidle, Lou Merloni, and Kerry Lightenberg. 

These guys were forever tarnished, some blackballed by teammates that were union stalwarts for their “unforgivable” actions.  Monetarily they lost licensing monies in video games and baseball cards. Initially, they were required to fend for themselves in arbitration hearings.  Eventually, the MLBPA lawyers would represent them, but not with much fervor.  The union considered them as personas non-grata.  All for agreeing to play ball for three weeks in Spring Training.

Herges expressed remorse 35 years later when interviewed by Bob Nightengale on the subject. “If there’s regret it is that I did not educate myself.  I made a decision to do it, and I stand by it, but I should have educated myself and known what happened previously…I remember the next spring sitting with Brett Butler on the bus and he broke it down for me.  He said ‘Look, this is what Curt Flood did.”

This article has 30 Comments

  4. Very good read today. I do remember the 1995 strike season vaguely but this article brought it back in detail. Can’t blame the guys that had no shot at every becoming a major leaguer to step across the line.

  5. One has to wonder how many players they could get and what quality if they offered them a million dollars or two?

    A minor leaguer who didn’t get a signing bonus and even players like Josh Harrison (at the end of his career) might jump. They would get kicked out of the MLBPA. My question is: Does that mean they forfeit their pension?

  6. Finally, some real baseball news, from THe Athletic:

    the Dodgers rolled out a who’s who of a farm system that The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked last month as the best in baseball. A local independent ball team looked across the dugout as the Dodgers unleashed a top-of-the-lineup featuring Michael Busch, Miguel Vargas and Andy Pages — each on Law’s top 100 list — consecutively. The indy ball team’s treat for recording three outs was a steady diet of mid-90s fastballs from Ryan Pepiot, who just missed Law’s top 100. Pepiot a few times threw his new pitch, a sweeping slider, for good measure. Just one batter of six Pepiot faced put a ball in play. Before the afternoon was over they’d have to go through another top-100 prospect in Bobby Miller. They were overwhelmed by Landon Knack’s arsenal. At the plate, Jeren Kendall, a 2017 first-rounder whose prospect pedigree has lost some shine, homered on the first pitch he saw.

    1. Jeren’s gonna have a hell of a Indy Ball career! His swing reminds me of Erisbel Arruebarruena.

  7. They were supposed to have a meeting yesterday, but I have read nothing new about it. Fans outside the Rogers Center were yelling at Manfred that we want baseball. I remember the strike and losing the 94 series because of it. The whole thing pissed me off, but like most fans, I was back watching when they resumed play. I forgot that Herges has crossed the line. He has had jobs as a pitching coach in the majors since his retirement.

    2. Not now. Gates are locked and staff says no entry for now. That apparently is subject to change daily once they start games.

  9. MLB Cancels Spring Training Games Until At Least March 18
    By Anthony Franco | March 4, 2022 at 7:18pm CDT

    MLB Spring Training games will not begin until at least March 18, the league announced on its website. Exhibition play had previously been scrapped through March 11.

    It’s not a surprising delay, as it’s improbable there’ll be a new collective bargaining agreement in place to begin Spring Training games any sooner. There seems likely to be at least a week between the finalization of a new CBA and the start of Spring Training games. Teams will still need some time to conduct the remainder of their offseason work. Players will need at least a few days to report to camps before diving into gameplay.

    It looks like the opening day Colorado series at Coors could be canceled too.

  11. Angels owner Arte Moreno, D-backs owner Ken Kendrick, Reds owner Bob Castellini and Tigers owner Chris Ilitch were all opposed to proposing a $220MM CBT threshold.

    Are you kidding me? Moreno, after signing Pujols to the worst contract in baseball history opposes raising the CBT? Ilitch, after the Tigers signed Miggy to that way too long contract? Reds and Votto? What a joke. They need a rule to keep themselves from being stupid?

    Bump the CBT to 225 with a 3-4% nominal increase per year and get this done.

    Most teams aren’t going to spend up to the CBT anyways.

    225
    232
    239
    246
    253

    1. Bulldog, I don’t think the CBT is as big of an obstacle between the parties. Same with minimum salaries. I think the “Pre-Arbitration Bonus Pool” is a big problem. The owners have moved from zero to 30 million to be decided amongst 150 pre-arbitration players. The Union wants 100 million. I, personally think the whole bonus is absurd.
      I’m with the owners on this one and see no reason for 1 to 3 year players to divide this money based on awards and some undetermined stat based on WAR. Make the minimum at $700K. I see no reason why a 3 year player can’t make it on 2.1 million prior to arbitration.

      1. I agree. MLBPA set up a fund to help players impacted by the lock out. I would be very surprised to see anyone except guys with under 2 years of service tap into it. A report says LA has the best chance to sign Freeman. I go for it the day the lockout ends.

      2. If the veteran players care so much about the young ‘uns, why don’t they all donate ten percent of their salaries to the pre-arbitration fund.

      3. Weird, I thought the CBT was the last hurdle to climb. I thought they settled on minimum salaries and bonus pool.

        1. Nothing was settled. Here are the major differences. The largest gap is in the Pre-Arbitration Bonus Pool, with the Union just dropping from 100M to 85M.
          Minimum Salary
          MLB: $700K in 2022 increasing to $740K by 2026
          MLBPA: $725K in 2022, $745K in 2023, $765K in 2024, $765K plus consumer price index increase in 2025, same increase in 2026
          Current gap: $25K in 2022
          Competitive Balance Tax
          MLB: Base tax thresholds at $220MM in 2022/ $220MM in 2023/ $220MM in 2024 / $224MM in 2025 / $230MM in 2026.
          MLBPA: $238MM in 2022 / $244MM in 2023 / $250MM in 2024 / $256MM in 2025 / $263MM in 2026.
          Current gap: $18MM in 2022, growing to $33MM in 2026
          Pre-Arbitration Bonus Pool
          MLB: $30MM pool with no increases throughout the CBA
          MLBPA: $85MM pool with $5MM annual increases throughout the CBA
          Current gap: $55MM in 2022, growing to $75MM by 2026

          1. The summation of the CBT gulf must include the proposed penalties for going over.

            Obviously, IMO

    2. Good proposal Bulldog. I think your proposed increases to CBT are reasonable, but I would guess the compromise is more like $5 million increase per year starting at $220 or $225 in first year. The big problem is that the owners are divided on the CBT thresholds, and it only requires 8 out of 30 owners to decline any deal. And 20 of the owners have no intention to get close to the CBT threshold.
      And While the mlbpa tells everybody they are holding out for the young and lower paid players, in reality very few of those players will benefit from any change in the CBT. The CBT emphasis is solely for the superstars like Max Scherzer and the agents like Boras. I believe that if the Union took a secret ballot of all its 1200 members, over 800 players would take the current CBT as is with a minimum salary of $700,000. Less than 20% of players in the Union make it in MLB for 6 years to become free agents and most of those are not impacted by the CBT.
      The CBT battle is mostly about the super agents and the superstars only.

  12. MLBPA willing to consider the 14 team playoff. Maybe that will kick start some sort of agreement. LA signed Jose Adames, a RH reliver to a minor league deal. Has pitched for the Marlins, Reds and Red Sox minor league teams. Has had 2 TJ surgery’s.

    1. There you go, it’s all BS. Both sides willing to sacrifice the integrity of the game for $$. So, now the top three teams in each league get a buy so some crappy 500 teams get to the playoffs? Why does a third place team in a 5 team division get a playoff berth? That’s not good for a 162 game season that becomes meaningless. I can see people tuning out during meaningless regular season games and tuning in for the playoffs.

      If we go on last year’s results, the Phillies (82-80) and the Reds (83-79) get in. I’m losing interest already.

        1. That makes sense, the other would result in 5 teams in each league after the first round. I hope they at least just do seeding. Out of the 6 teams, record plays worst record and so on. How do they re-seed for the second round?

  13. Muncy, who has been the Dodgers’ primary first baseman for the last few years, says he’d have no problem handing the torch over to Freeman.

    “Maybe it’s not as much [playing] first base, but that’s okay,” Muncy said. “I enjoy playing second base more. If we get the DH, that’s going to be a rotating position. We’re not going to have a one set DH. That means we’ll be rotating all around the field. That’s when it’s really fun. I’m excited about it.”

    This team will be absolutely stacked when the Dodgers sign Freeman, Rizzo, Bryant or Schwarber. The bench will be Taylor, Lux, Rios and McKinstry. The lineup and positional possibilities are endless.

  14. Right-hander Yadier Alvarez is in camp with the Dodgers, tweets Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register. Alvarez was once a highly-touted prospect, with the Dodgers giving him a $16MM signing bonus in 2015 and Baseball America ranking him as the 26th prospect across the league in 2017. Despite being selected to the team’s 40-man roster prior to the 2019 season, there were concerns with his lack of control. In 2018, he pitched 48 1/3 innings at Double-A with an excellent 30% strikeout rate but a ghastly 20% walk rate.

    In 2019, injuries limited him to just 3 2/3 Double-A innings and he was designated for assignment in March of 2020, eventually clearing waivers and being outrighted to the minors. Of course, the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues that year and Alvarez was only able to throw 3 2/3 Arizona Complex League innings in 2021. Despite all of those ups and downs, Alvarez is still relatively young, turning 26 on Tuesday. One silver lining of losing his roster spot two years ago is that he is not affected by the ongoing lockout, giving him a chance to show the Dodgers’ brass that he still has something to offer.

    Another hurler looking for a bounceback with the Dodgers is Carson Fulmer, whom the club selected from the Reds in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft in December. Originally selected 8th overall by the White Sox in the 2015 draft, Fulmer also cracked Baseball America’s Top 100, coming in at #70 in 2016. However, he has struggled to establish himself in the majors, putting up a walk rate above 10% in each of the past six seasons. After bouncing around the waiver wire multiple times in recent years, he eventually cleared waivers in May of 2021. Plunkett spoke to the 28-year-old, who credits his former Vanderbilt teammate Walker Buehler with his current opportunity. “I think that he had chirped at the front office a little bit and tried to get me over here,” Fulmer joked. “He was excited (when the Dodgers acquired Fulmer). At the end of the day, he knows what I’m capable of. He just wanted me to be in the right place, the right situation.” Much like Alvarez, the loss of his roster spot gives Fulmer the benefit of participating in Spring Training and the upcoming minor league season,

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