Strike One

The first major league players strike was in April 1972 and lasted just 13 days. The strike ended when the owners agreed on a $500,000 increase in pension payments but it meant a total of 86 games were missed – none these were ever played as the owners refused to pay the players whilst they were on strike. As a result some teams only played 153 games, 9 fewer than usual.

It is argued by some Red Sox fans that they lost the 1972 American League East Division to the Detroit Tigers because they were “cheated” by the strike. During the strike period, the Red Sox had 2 games cancelled against the Indians and the Tigers missed 3 games against the Yankees. This meant that the Tigers eventually played one more game than the Red Sox and won the division by half a game, with a record of 86-70, compared to Boston’s 85-70.