Balls and Strikes

by Jennings, Kenneth M.

• ISBN13: 9780275934415
• ISBN10: 0275934411
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1990-04-01
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text

Summary

Kenneth M. Jennings examines union-management relations in professional baseball, bringing together all the information the sports fan needs to follow the issues surrounding player-management arbitration in this unique industry. Covering the history of collective bargaining action in baseball from 1869 to the 1990 season, this book examines the issues that influence those high-profile player-management-owner negotiations. Balls and Strikes reveals: how in recent years the Major League Baseball Players' Association (MLBPA) has successfully parlayed owner disunity into substantial gains for its members; that baseball, in a statistical sense, surprisingly exhibits little discrimination against black and Hispanic players; how there is very little relationship between pay and performance in professional baseball. Baseball fans and sports journalists as well as professionals in management and labor relations, will find Balls and Strikes a fresh and exciting look at America's favorite pastime. Balls and Strikes presents the confrontations and relationships between players and management from the perspective of several hundred collective bargaining participants--the union and management officials who negotiate the labor agreement and the players who must approve and live with it. Kenneth M. Jennings derives his perspective from a variety of media sources, related biographies, autobiographies, and articles. The result is a highly readable book about owners, commissioners, agents, the media, manager-player relations, player pressures including drug and alcohol problems, race and ethnic issues, and player mobility and salaries. The book discusses the history of collective bargaining action inbaseball from 1869 to 1966; the year Marvin Miller became president of the MLBPA, through the 1970s and Miller's successful bargaining efforts, into the 1980s and the opening of the 1990 season. Balls and Strikes discusses key participants in the collective bargaining process--owners, agents, the media, managers, and players--and concludes with a look at contemporary industrial relations issues in professional baseball: drug and alcohol abuse; racial discrimination; and the relationship between pay and performance.

Author Biography

KENNETH M. JENNINGS is Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of North Florida.

Table of Contents

Preface

Collective Bargaining Efforts

Early Collective Bargaining

Marvin Miller and the Major League Baseball Players' Association

Collective Bargaining in the 1980s

Collective Bargaining Participants

Owners, Commissioners, the Media, and Agents

Manager-Player Relationships

Player Pressures and Problems

Remaining Player-Management Issues

The Race and Ethnic Issue

Player Mobility and Salary Arbitration

Salary Trends and Controversy

Selected Bibliography

Index