THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412150600
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
Zuni's Terry Bradshaw has not spent a day in the major leagues. But the St. Louis Cardinals' centerfield prospect is on strike, walking the figurative line with multimillionaires Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Cal Ripken Jr.
There is nothing fair about that. Still, the Cardinals have placed Bradshaw on their protected 40-man roster; thus, he is in the Players' Association. Which to Bradshaw means one thing: If the strike lasts into spring training and beyond, and if he is not sent down to play in the minor leagues, he will not be playing baseball at all.
To Bradshaw, the owners' union-busting vow to use replacement players for a ``major league'' season is an empty promise. Regardless of the financial incentives, he insists he will sit.
``There's nothing to think about,'' said Bradshaw, who returned home in early December from the Arizona Fall League. ``If they want to try to play the minor leaguers, I won't cross the picket lines.
``I'm probably not the only one who feels this way. These guys are (striking) for us. I think it would be real stupid for us to cross the lines.''
It is among the ugliest side issues in this uncivil labor war, the thought of young players being forced to endanger their futures as strike-breakers, playing amid fear.
There is precedent, of course. The NFL played three weeks of games with replacement players during the strike season of 1987. A few of those players, scorned when the strike ended, remain in the league, however.
In baseball today, ``what-if'' questions sully the landscape. Dreaded hypotheticals are everywhere. But as it stands, players on 40-man rosters are in the union. Players sent to the minors may remain on the 40-man roster and are expected to be allowed to play minor league ball, as happened last season, without reprisal.
As for playing in major league stadiums, though, Bradshaw echoes the public sentiments of every union member. Whether they stick to their words as bills mount and income is lost, however, is still to be determined.
But with players such as John Franco and Bobby Bonilla spouting hyperbolic threats of physical harm toward potential strike-breakers, lockstep among union members is the only way to go.
In less-certain, largely unenviable positions are minor league free agents and borderline prospects not on 40-man rosters. Virginia Beach's Trey McCoy, for instance. Former Norfolk Tides shortstop Kevin Baez. Or Jim Vatcher, a Tides outfielder last season.
Their major league time is minimal or nil. They are running out of years and chances. They could be offered more money than they've ever made, guaranteed, to play major league ball this season.
But at what cost?
``That would be tough on guys like us,'' said McCoy, 28, a former Texas Rangers farmhand who is unsigned for next season. ``I'd have to consider what is best for my family. Once you do something like that, I would think that's pretty well it (for your future).
``But a few guys I've talked to said they would do it in a heartbeat. Some older players who haven't played in the big leagues and want the opportunity - this could be their only opportunity.''
Vatcher, 28, also unsigned, has only a year of big-league experience and is promised no more shots at the big money. But even if he signs, he swears he'll watch before he'll play major league baseball without real major leaguers.
``Now, if I'm offered $10 million, then it would be stupid,'' Vatcher said with a laugh. ``But I just couldn't do it. Sure, it would be tempting if they're throwing a lot of money in your face. But I don't have a family, so I'm under less pressure than another guy who's trying to support his family and is struggling.''
Not that Vatcher doesn't empathize with the veteran minor leaguer squeezing out a living. He just doesn't want to position himself for any repercussions.
``Who am I to say, if a guy needs money to support his family?'' Vatcher said. ``You've got to do what you've got to do, but it would be a big risk for a guy to do that. The strike will end one day, and if it ends sooner than later, those careers are in jeopardy. They're gonna be blackballed by the players.''
And don't think Baez, 27, doesn't know it. He is to be married in January. He has an offer from the Detroit Tigers. With no major leaguers around, Baez could be a guy Detroit wants in its Opening Day lineup.
``Don't get me wrong, it would be very tempting,'' Baez told the New York Times last week. ``I love this game, you know? And sometimes you do have to do what's good for you. But I do believe that players truly have to stand up for tomorrow's players, the way they did in the past.
``And even if I didn't believe that, what would happen if I crossed and then they settled in April or May? I'd be pretty much a marked man. It isn't going to help me to get back to the major leagues, and be in the position to get beaned. . . . I don't think I'll be crossing.''
If the owners' threat is not a bluff, it is at least a trial balloon to gauge fan reaction, Tides general manager Dave Rosenfield said. Clubs have tickets and advertising to sell. They had to give fans and sponsors promise of a product.
Not surprisingly to Rosenfield, 51 percent of 615 fans surveyed by The Associated Press last week said they would attend the same number of major league games to watch replacement players as they attended last season.
``I think people love baseball,'' Rosenfield said. ``And I think a lot of people have gotten the idea that Triple-A baseball is pretty darn good, and that watching replacement players would be like Triple-A baseball. I think also it's a protest against the major league players.''
It is widely believed, however, among baseball people that replacement players will not be required, that somehow it will not come down to that dramatic circumstance.
But should it, New York Mets minor league director Steve Phillips expects his organization to avoid backing prospects into decisions with no up-side.
``We don't want to put players in a situation that could impact their careers in a negative way with their teammates or the organization,'' Phillips said. ``We're not looking to put players in situations where they have to choose allegiances and prove anything to us or the players.
``Most everybody's refrained from making this personal. It's part of a labor process, and one way or another, we're going to play again.''
Without a settlement, however, playing sooner will undoubtedly make it difficult for many to play later, if ever again. That baseball could cripple its people like that is a sorry turn in the saddest of years. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Terry Bradshaw says it ``would be real stupid'' to cross the picket
line.
Photo
``You've got to do what you've got to do,'' says Jim Vatcher, an
ex-Tide. He says he'd sit.
KEYWORDS: BASEBALL STRIKE by CNB