This Date In Sox History 6-12

[Lip Man 1]

This Date In Sox History:

June 12, 1981- A players strike begins wiping out almost two months of the season. When the strike begins the Sox are only 2 1/2 games off the lead in the Western Division. When both sides agree to resume the season, in early August, the owners come up with a bizarre "split season" format. Sox manager Tony LaRussa, a certified lawyer, quickly finds a major flaw in the plan and suggests that if it would help the Sox get the second best record and a spot in the post season, they would throw a late season series to the A’s. Later Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog says the same thing for his club. The owners quickly tweek the format to eliminate the potential for teams having to lose games, to in essence win.

Lip

[batmanZoSo]

I've never heard of any of that, can you elaborate on it?

[miker]

The Reds finished with the best record in baseball that year, only to stay home in October because they were in second place in each half.

[C-Dawg]

The Reds finished with the best record in baseball that year, only to stay home in October because they were in second place in each half.

I remember that well. My family had tickets to a couple Reds games at Riverfront Stadium in late June, as well as Amtrak tickets to get there, and we wound up cancelling the whole trip because of the strike. And having been burned once, my parents never took advantage of the free tickets, or vouchers, or whatever it was they gave us when they refunded our money.

But no, I'm not bitter!

:angry: