The last work stoppage, and a former Blue Jay who did things differently

The last time baseball had a work stoppage, one former Blue Jay handled things differently than the rest of the players.

That player was Kevin Millar, who actually finished his career with the Jays in 2009 by playing in 78 games with the team in his age 37 season, right before he eventually retired. Millar had also spent time with the Red Sox, Orioles, and Marlins earlier in his career, winning a championship ring with Boston in 2004.

While he made plenty of memories on the field, Millar is also remembered by his fellow big leaguers for another reason. He crossed the picket lines during the strike in 1994-95, and served as one of the replacement players during the 1995 season. The strike began in mid-August of 1994, and wasn’t over until April 2, 1995. Of course, this was before Millar’s big league career officially began in 1998, but unfortunately he had already made a name for himself before that time. In fact, he was barred from being a member of the MLB Player’s Association.

According to his wikipedia page, “To date, many players, who despite suffering from financial hardship did not cross the picket line, believe Millar, who did, betrayed them and should not be trusted.”

Of course, this was a fairly distant memory for Millar by the time he signed with the Blue Jays as a non-roster invitee in 2009, but that decision has certainly stuck with him throughout his career as a player, and even now as an analyst. He’s still not a member of the MLBPA, and I can’t imagine that’s ever going to change.

The Blue Jays did have a wrinkle to deal with during the last work stoppage in baseball as well. From the 1994-95 Wikipedia page:

“The Toronto Blue Jays could not play games with replacement players or umpires in Ontario, due to labour code amendments passed by the Ontario NDP that prohibited replacement workers. This was confirmed in a March 28, 1994, Ontario Labour Board hearing. Manager Cito Gaston and his coaching staff were sent to work with minor league players, and the team announced that games featuring replacement workers would be played at their spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida.”

For those of us that have been following baseball for 25-30 years or better, this isn’t the first time we’ve been through this frustrating process. Assuming that the two sides can’t work out a deal before today’s deadline, or in the next handful of days, this time around I sincerely doubt that we’ll see any replacement players.

It was an interesting decision for Millar at the time, and while it cost him the chance to appear in some video games during his career, fortunately for him it didn’t ultimately cost him an opportunity for a big league career. Somehow, I doubt there will be players taking that same risk this time.