The 1990 Spring Training Lockout Ends After 32 Days

On March 18, 1990, players and owners reached a new collective bargaining agreement that ended a 32-day lockout of spring training camps. The deal reopened camp gates across Florida and Arizona just in time to salvage most of the exhibition schedule, though Opening Day was pushed back from April 2 to April 9.

Owners had locked players out on February 15 after the Basic Agreement expired at the end of 1989. The central disputes were familiar: free-agency eligibility and salary arbitration timelines. Owners wanted to slow the growth of player salaries, which had ballooned throughout the 1980s. Players refused to give back what they had won in previous rounds of bargaining.

The settlement raised the minimum major-league salary from $68,000 to $100,000. Players retained salary arbitration eligibility after three years of service, though the owners gained a modified revenue-sharing arrangement. The agreement also increased club contributions to the players' pension fund.

The lockout was the seventh work stoppage in baseball since 1972, and it followed closely on the heels of the collusion scandal, in which owners had been found guilty of conspiring against free agents in 1985, 1986, and 1987. Arbitrator Thomas Roberts had already awarded $280 million in damages to the players, so the atmosphere at the bargaining table was tense.

Commissioner Fay Vincent helped broker the final compromise. The deal held for four years, though labor peace would collapse spectacularly in August 1994 when players walked out and the World Series was canceled for the first time since 1904.