I was covering the Mets and the Yankees at the time and felt sad for proud baseball lifers such as Buck Showalter and Dallas Green as they tried to make sense of the nonsense. Green, the Mets’ manager and never one to suffer fools, delighted in running these out-of-shape never-weres into the ground until many of them hobbled away voluntarily.
Fortunately, the real players soon returned, and I got a few extra weeks in Florida out of the deal as they prepared.
In 1987, the NFL tried replacement players. A kid from my high school got to impersonate a Kansas City Chiefs running back. Also stuck in my mind from that year is the image of linebacker Jack Del Rio, now the Jacksonville Jaguars coach, wielding a shotgun on the picket line.
We face some serious football down time unless these millionaire NFL players and billionaire owners agree on a new collective bargaining agreement soon.
Replacement players are not being rounded up yet, but maybe if we keep reminding ourselves what previous work stoppages looked like, sanity will prevail.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2408 or smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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