Tom Glavine fears MLB labor fight could mirror 1994 strike - ESPN

More than 30 years after Major League Baseball players went on strike and the league canceled the 1994 World Series, one of the major figures of that time is worried that history is repeating itself.

Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, who was exposed to scorn and contempt from fans as a forward-facing MLB Players Association executive subcommittee member during the 232-day strike, told ESPN that he is «100%» concerned that the players and league are barreling toward a work stoppage that could put the season in jeopardy similar to 1994-95.

That was the last time MLB officially proposed a salary cap system, which would be the most fundamental overhaul to the economic structure that has governed the game since the initial collective bargaining agreement in 1968. The league, which argued then that the game's revenue disparity was unsustainable long term, is again citing competitive balance as the impetus for its cap push. The current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1.

Glavine, who over a 22-year career with the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets won 305 games, acknowledged the significant growth in the payroll gap between top and bottom teams but believes a cap is not necessary to solve it.

«I get the concerns over the disparity,» Glavine said, «but I don't know that those concerns are any different, really, when you get down to the basics of what they were in '94, because I feel like we argued about the same things.»

Glavine's anxiety about the potential for another calamitous fight echoes that of commissioner Rob Manfred, who was asked June 3 if he worries about a repeat of the labor discord that wiped out the 1994 postseason. «Of course I do,» he told reporters. A lawyer for the league in 1994-95, Manfred is one