Houston, We Have a Problem...

The MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association) is generally considered to be the strongest labor union of all such organizations representing the interests of the men and women who play professional sports in one of the North American professional leagues.  This summer, after having been unjustly overlooked (in this writer's opinion) for years, Marvin Miller, who was the MLBPA's Executive Director from 1966 to 1982, is finally being enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

The juxtaposition between irony and coincidence often confuses me.  So, I do not know whether it is ironic or coincidental that the 2020 season, during which Mr. Miller shall take his rightful place among the game's immortal figures, very well could be the one that tears the MLBPA asunder.  

It is not an overstatement to say that many members of the MLBPA - who do not presently play for the Houston Astros - are seriously pissed off at those members of the union who play for the Astros and, even more so, who played for the Astros when they won the franchise's first World Series in 2017.  Players in the American League and the National League, including those directly impacted by the Astros' relentless cheating, such as members of the Yankees (losers of the 2017 ALCS) and the Dodgers (losers of the 2017 World Series), have responded harshly to the Commissioner's decision to punish the franchise for cheating but to not punish the players who cheated.  

Nick Markakis of the Atlanta Braves has always been a favorite of mine, despite the fact that he wore out the Yankees during his years patrolling the outfield for the Baltimore Orioles.  Markakis is a no-bullshit guy who, when MLB and the MLBPA announced the policy disciplining players who test positive for using performance-enhancing drugs, espoused the decidedly minority opinion among his brethren, which was that the policy was too lenient.  Markakis favored a zero-tolerance/get caught one time and get banned from the game forever punishment.  

Since he - much like Dr. Seuss's Horton (another favorite of mine) - means what he says and says what he means, his comments the other day got my attention:

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the 30 Major League Clubs and the MLBPA expires in 2021.  Way back when, in February 2019, players were already talking about a possible strike upon this CBA's expiration - as a negotiating tactic.  Ah, February 2019, those halcyon days before the players for the other 28 Major League Clubs learned what die-hard cheaters their colleagues on the 2017 Astros and the 2018 Red Sox were.  If you think Nick Markakis is angry now (Spoiler Alert:  HE IS!), then wait until Commissioner Manfred releases the report of his investigation into the 2018 Red Sox.  Not for anything but Shoeless Joe Jackson and several of his teammates on the 1919 Chicago White Sox were banned from the big leagues for life for helping fix the '19 World Series.  Other than taking deliberate action to influence the result in their favor as opposed to in their opponent's favor, just how different were the actions of the '17 Astros and the '18 Red Sox from those of the '19 White Sox?  

History teaches us that fighting a war on two fronts is a losing proposition.  As Opening Day 2020 approaches, Executive Director Tony Clark and the men and women who run the MLBPA might find themselves being forced to do it.  Perhaps Mr. Clark and his colleagues can prevail upon membership to follow the example of a certain Springfield, Illinois townballer: 

-AK