While raising money for St. Joseph’s School of Blind in Jersey City, old-timers bemoan looming strike date
They had gathered together at the Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park Monday, to play a little golf, to help raise money for a good cause, while reminiscing and having a good time.
The 12th annual Phil Rizzuto Celebrity Golf Classic, which raises money for Jersey City’s St. Joseph School for the Blind and honors the legendary Yankee Hall of Famer and broadcaster, brought out some legendary baseball figures to honor "The Scooter" and help the school, which has stood proudly and served blind students on Baldwin Avenue for 111 years.
However, while the focus of the day was helping needy students, there was another predominant topic – namely the looming baseball strike, scheduled for Friday, Aug. 30.
The legends of yesteryear cannot believe that today’s superstars are actually strongly considering a walkout this week.
"I think I’m like everyone else," said Yankee legend Yogi Berra. "I just hope they don’t strike. We have a few days to find out for sure. It would be a damn shame, a damn shame because it’s our pastime, for God’s sake. Just the talk of a strike hurts the game of baseball."
Berra, one of the most popular players of all time, said that professional ballplayers during his heyday never even considered a strike.
"It wasn’t even talked about," Berra said. "We did start a pension plan, but we never talked about a strike. I don’t get it. If they go on strike, it would be tough."
Bobby Thomson, the former New York Giants slugger who hit the famed "Shot Heard Round the World" to win the 1951 National League pennant over the Brooklyn Dodgers, agreed with Berra.
"It’s very disappointing," said Thomson, whose homer is under consideration as one of Baseball’s Greatest Moments, a contest currently being voted on by baseball fans all over the world. "What are these guys thinking of? These guys are in a different league than we were in. I can never understand them wanting to strike, with all the money they’re making. I can’t understand how they players and the owners can’t get together."
Thomson definitely remembered who would get hurt the worst by a pending strike.
"Baseball is all about the fans, and if they strike, the fans are the ones who are being forgotten," Thomson said. "The players have to think about the game of baseball and what it’s for. It’s for the fan. Without the fans and without the support of the fans, there would be no game. I simply can’t believe they’re doing this to the game. I’m very upset by it all."
Former Yankees manager and general manager Gene Michael, currently the head of the team’s scouting bureau, said that he was instructed by team officials not to talk to the media about the strike.
"I just hope there isn’t one," Michael said. "I can’t see the purpose of it. I heard someone on the radio talking to players, and that guy is usually right. I just hope he’s wrong this time."
John Doherty isn’t your average old-timer. The former Detroit Tigers hurler, a 14-game winner for the Tigers only eight years ago, was a major leaguer when the players last went on strike in 1994 – a work stoppage that canceled the World Series for the first time in history.
Currently employed with the Major League Baseball’s Alumni Association, Doherty said that he has been asked several times about the strike possibilities.
"Everyone is asking my opinion on the strike," Doherty said. "They think I’m pro-player, because I was a player recently, but I really understand both sides to it. I hope that they come to some sort of an agreement, because no one wants to see a strike. Because of the importance the game has to so many people, because of what’s coming up with the first anniversary of 9/11, I just hope they get something done. I’m staying optimistic."
But Doherty also believes that the players and owners are forgetting a major portion of the general public.
"The fans are the ones who will suffer," Doherty said. "The players and owners all have enough money. They’ll survive. But there’s never any talk about the people who will truly lose. The fans, the people who work at the ballparks. They are the ones who will be hurt the most."
Doherty said that it took a while for the sport to recover from the last strike in 1994.
"I know I didn’t want to strike, basically because I couldn’t afford to," Doherty said. "But I knew I had to. We were striking for the players who came after us. But after it was over, we all really didn’t understand why we did it and it definitely didn’t help anything."
Doherty was asked if he had any solutions to the problem.
"It’s a sad thing," Doherty said. "I wish I had the answers for it. They have a hard [salary] cap in football. Maybe that can work in baseball. I’m a fan as well, so I don’t want to see them go out."
Doherty, a native of Westchester County, N.Y., is also currently involved with the Empire State Games. He came to the tournament with the sole purpose of seeing "The Scooter" once again.
"He remembered me the last time I was here," Doherty said. "That was special to me. He remembered that I needed like 50 tickets every time I pitched in Yankee Stadium. That’s why I go to golf outings, so I can meet some of the old timers. I just pitched in an old-timers game in Trenton, with Brooks Robinson, Bob Feller. I have an appreciation for baseball history."
However, it’s safe to say that the players of today don’t share that same respect for the national pastime.
More than 250 golfers participated in the tournament, including Giants Super Bowl hero Ottis Anderson, former local basketball star turned thoroughbred owner Bobby Hurley and sportscaster Warner Wolf.
The tournament, chaired by Jersey City’s own legend, Ed Lucas, the school’s director of development and public education, raised more than $400,000 toward the school. It was a successful day for the school.
Here’s to hoping that the players and owners who control the national pastime are as successful later this week.