Summer Training: A Curveball of Divergence
June 23rd 1994. It was for the most part, a normal day. The International Olympic Committee celebrated its' centennial in relative silence (in Switzerland and not in Greece where the ancient Olympics began). "The Lion King" was 8 days into its' box office run as the longest running hand-drawn animated Disney film. The last of the Russian troops that were still in Germany as per the cold war were packing to leave in 2 days time and the first round of the World Cup was well underway across America.
So it strikes (pun intended) most sports fans as odd that a fringe sport was doing better in the United States than its' national pastime of Baseball, if only briefly. The players and the owners had (to some degree or another) been at odds with each other since their were owners to be at odds with (which began not long after the civil war ended). But it really started 25 years prior, in 1969. Curt Flood, a centre-fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals fought the reserve clause (a clause in the contracts of every player that the owners used to retain the services of a player for an additional year under the terms of the previous contract if both parties could not come to an agreement on a new contract), and lost in court. To say it effectively ended his professional career, would be an understatement (he would be blacklisted from all professional and semi-professional baseball leagues for the rest of his life). But from his sacrifice, came additional efforts that eventually lead to abolishing the reserve clause forever, leading to a free agent market for all of the players. Salaries increased to meet the desires of the players (and the demands of each position), and revenue increased for the owners (although not as quickly). In 1981, there was a work stoppage of nearly 2 months during the regular season and while tensions afterwards cooled for several years afterwards, the collusion scandal of 1985-1987 (and possibly 1988) angered the players to no end (every teams front office entered into a conspiracy whereby no team would make a contractual offer to any player at all despite the needs of the team). Tensions had been high ever since, with the final straw for the players coming earlier in June of 1994 when the owners agreed to withhold payment of $7.8 million U.S. Dollars into the players pension and benefits plan (as per the current terms of the collective bargaining agreement). Interpreting this as a breach of contract, the players union filed an antitrust lawsuit against the owners, to be decided by the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.
They were a group of 17 Senators who gathered in all matters of Antitrust, Constitutional Affairs etc. But Joe Biden, a democrat from Delaware (who had been Senator for that state since 1973 despite actually being born in Denver) was the chairman and thus the one to announce the legislation:
After several days of deliberation, we the United States Senate Judiciary Committee have voted 10-7 in favour of the Plaintiff (The Major League Baseball Players Association). We vote in legislation that the owners of the 28 Major League Baseball franchises and the acting commissioner, Bud Selig, did commit an act of antitrust. Furthermore, we order that all missing payments to the pension and benefits plan of the MLBPA be paid within 24 hours at an interest rate of 8% plus a fine of an additional $1 million. We also vote 10-7 that we will now personally oversee (and if needs be, ratify) the next collective bargaining agreement which shall enter arbitration at 9:00 am the morning after the World Series has concluded. For now, we are adjourned.
Joe Biden exited the Senate building in D.C and looked at his 1993 Gold Rolex Daytona, it read 11:30 AM.
"Hmm, almost lunch time. Maybe I'll grab something at Tune Inn" he said to himself. Tune Inn was a bar and restaurant down the street that had been in operation since 1947. It was something not really known to the other Senators, as it was too close to a traditional bar for most of their tastes.
"It's a shame that the Tune Inn won't really be known on a national level for at least another decade and a half." came a voice behind him. Joe turned around and saw a figure in black, pale grey skin and well over 7 feet tall.
"Mr. Collins, it went as planned." was all that Joe could get out in response as he was quite intimidated at the figure that stood before him, who looked...not quite human.
"I know, you only had to change 3 people's minds in order to change history." said Aaron-prime. Aaron-prime then motioned for him and Joe to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.
"Why 3? 2 was enough for a 9-8 vote in your favour" asked Joe.
"Because the owners would then win the right to appeal in a few months and the strike would just cancel a majority of the 1995 season instead and the new Collective Bargaining Agreement would have very little difference from the one I experience on a few different worlds."
"So...you WERE a human at one point?" asked Joe, who had never thought of ever asking that question before to anyone (or anything).
"Very good, Senator. Yes, I was very much a human once. I'm actually about 11 years old now, either living in Canada or Colorado. Sometimes I even struggle to know which world I'm on or talking about" replied Aaron, genuinely impressed at the Senator's insight.
"Remember our deal?" asked Joe.
"Indeed sir, and I will live up to my end of it. Washington will eventually get a baseball franchise again. You got 1 in the original timeline too, only it was just a relocation from Montreal. Instead, you'll be awarded a new franchise from scratch in a few years, along with Arizona, Tampa Bay and Mexico City" replied Aaron as they crossed the street together.
"I meant the...other thing" said Joe Biden with a hint of dread in his voice.
"Oh, THAT. Don't worry, I take some pleasure in killing Donald Trump just before he announces his candidacy for the presidency 21 years from now. I concede that even I screw up in the creation of worlds from time to time, and him becoming president is one of my bigger mistakes. I'm particularly sorry where you are concerned, Senator." said Aaron-prime thoughtfully.
"Oh? What makes me so special?" asked Joe.
"In every world where he is elected President in 2016, you are the sitting vice president. You never reach the presidency, I'm afraid. But that stems from you not wanting the 'big chair', so to speak" said Aaron-prime with a slight smile (making sure not to reveal his silver teeth).
"I imagine that I'm too old by then to want to add 4 or 8 more years to my contract with the American people. Not that a man should know too much about his own destiny, but who is my President?" asked Joe.
Aaron-prime smiled, and deliberately kept it ambiguous "Again, sometimes I struggle to keep track of which world I'm on. But I can say that it's about an even split between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama"
"OK Hilary makes some sense, but who's the other guy?" asked Joe in shock.
"Right, he's not going to be the senator of Illinois until 1997, you haven't heard of him yet" replied Aaron-prime.
They arrived at Tune Inn and went inside.
The lunch had gone uneventful for both Senator Biden and Aaron Collins (The Senator had a Philly Steak Sandwich, while Aaron had Biscuits and Gravy, then made a joke as to how he still didn't quite understand how his metabolism worked since he stopped being human a few years prior that went over Senator Biden's head). Aaron then conjured a $100 U.S. bill out of thin air to pay for both of their meals, nodded at the Senator, excused himself to the bathroom and never came back. By the Senator's estimation, Aaron probably used the bathroom so he could quietly communicate with someone or something to take him back to his home (a guess that earned a tip of the hat from Aaron himself from his pocket of Nth-dimensional space). The senator then took an appointment book out from his suit jacket pocket (a Royal Blue Armani) and looked over his schedule for the day.
"I'm all clear now, I can go home spend a nice afternoon and evening with my wife Jill, help Ashley with whatever homework that she may have. Maybe I'll call Beau and Hunter tonight after dinner and see how they're doing with their final exams"
It took him longer to return to the senate building than it had taken him to walk to the Tune Inn (either being full slowed him down or his former, not quite human travel companion was a fast walker. Given Aaron's height, Senator Biden suspected that it was the latter). Joe got into his car (a black 1992 BMW 750i), and began the commute back to his home in Wilmington, Delaware. Once he was out of the City Limits, he put on the radio (the station was irrelevant, he just needed the distraction from Maryland traffic). It must've been tuned into either a sports or news station, as it focused on a press conference that was called by Donald Fehr, the president of the MLBPA:
"Good afternoon, esteemed members of the press. To begin, yes, I am thrilled with the ruling made by the United States Senate Judiciary Committee as it means that the billionaire owners can't just push around and con the millionaire players into submission. This however, is but 1 mere step towards a more player-friendly collective bargaining agreement and not the strike that Mister and Misses John Q. Ticket Purchaser wishes us to avoid at all costs..."
Joe switched it off, knowing better than anyone on Earth that it took (almost literally) divine intervention in order for the ruling to not go the other way.
Acting Commissioner Bud Selig on the other hand, had been outraged since the ruling was made. He even made sure to make a call to voice his outrage to the other owners (as he himself was technically still an owner of a team, the Milwaukee Brewers) from his room at the Watergate Hotel (where his feeling of being robbed of justice came to him as ironic, given the history of where he was staying. He even thought that he was on the same floor as the burglary that eventually lead to the impeachment of former President Richard Nixon). He was put through to a conference room in Chicago, where the other owners had been expecting his call, regardless of today's ruling:
"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm sure that by now that you've all heard today's ruling in Washington. I for one, am outraged that my first major act as acting commissioner of baseball has received such a devastating setback. I pledged to all of you and to the fans of baseball that I take full responsibility for both the good and the bad, and so I accept full responsibility for not providing an adequate argument to the U.S. Senate today. Going forward, I move that we appeal this in front of the United States Supreme Court immediately"
Commissioner Selig was expecting 1 of many reactions, but not 1 of the stunned silence that he received through his hotel phone. It was Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago White Sox (and in basketball, the Chicago Bulls) who responded first (having the most hardline stance against labour unions out of all of the owners, as he had ties to 2 different sports):
"Mr. Selig, with all due respect, I believe that I speak on behalf of all of the owners when I say, that that would be very ill-advised. I'm sure you're aware of our last quarter century of history between us and the supreme court?"
Mr. Selig nodded (despite being on a phone so no one would see him), then he replied: "I do, and while the league in and of itself has not been destroyed as we predicted when the reserve clause was abolished, the demands of the players ARE getting out of hand, especially in light of this league not having an established salary cap and tighter regulations on free agency. I suppose that I have to concede that you're right, Mr. Reinsdorf. Thinking of it now, we would (if anything) lose even more ground against the players association if we went to the supreme court now. In that case, I move that we get the lawyers ready for November."
There was a smattering of "uh-huhs" and "yes's" on the Chicago end of the phone. The call ended shortly thereafter.