| Major League Baseball labor relations |
|---|
| Work stoppages |
| Topics |
| People |
| Court cases |
|
 Baseball, Organized labor |
The 1972 Major League Baseball strike was the first players' strike in Major League Baseball history. The strike occurred from April 1 to 13, 1972.
Baseball resumed when the owners and players agreed on a $500,000 increase in pension fund payments. Owners agreed to add salary arbitration to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.[1] The 86 total games that were missed over the 13-day period were not rescheduled, because the league refused to pay the players for the time they were on strike. As a result, the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres each played only 153 games, nine fewer than normal, and no team played more than 156 games.[2]
One major effect of the uneven schedule was that the Detroit Tigers played one more game than the Boston Red Sox, which enabled Detroit (with a record of 86–70) to win the American League East as Boston (with a record of 85–70) finished 1⁄2 game behind.[2] Detroit won the division on the next-to-last day of the season when they beat Boston, 3–1, at Tiger Stadium.[3]
- ^ "Baseball – Baseball's Work Stoppages". CNNSI.com. August 8, 2002. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014.
- ^ a b "The 1972 Season". Retrosheet. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
- ^ "Detroit Tigers 3, Boston Red Sox 1". Retrosheet. October 3, 1972.