For the first time in 26 years, labor peace was disrupted between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association with the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Prior to Wednesday, Major League Baseball had not seen a stoppage in normal business since the 1994-95 strike, which lasted 232 days and resulted in the cancelation of the remainder of that season, including the Postseason and the World Series. The last lockout occurred in 1990, and was resolved in a month’s time, avoiding the league having to cancel any regular season games.
Fast forward to December 2021. Baseball fans would certainly be justified in calling this past month a valid depiction of the state of the game. From the surface, it may seem oxymoronic that over $2.2 billion was spent in contract extensions and free agent signings over that time period, perhaps a verisimilitude for the league’s recovery after lost revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some baseball fans, even those extremely passionate about the game, yearn for everything to be figured out, and the words “Play ball!” to be shouted at the ballpark again as scheduled this spring. Despite this work stoppage, “People will most definitely come [back]” to patronize America’s pastime, says John Kincade, the eponymous host of The John Kincade Show on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia. And if anyone says otherwise, he’ll be there to call them out on what he says is “The biggest lie ever told in sports radio.”
“Five times on this radio station [yesterday], I heard the biggest lie that’s ever told in sports radio,” said Kincade. “‘I’m done with this sport. I’m never watching again. I’m finished. This is the last straw.’ This is such the biggest load of crap, and it’s documented [and] proven over and over again… You’re lying. You know it. I know it. But nobody will call you on it. I will. You’re a fraud. You know you’re coming back. You talk a big game, but you always cave.”
A seasoned radio veteran who has hosted local and national shows around the country, Kincade has a wealth of experience talking about sports on the air. By virtue of that experience, he has also heard and responded to opinions from callers and other hosts that he knows are mendacious, not always by intent, and/or an overreaction. Therefore, he came prepared with facts to back up his claim, and prove why the fans will come back no matter how grotesque these negotiations might be portrayed by those with knowledge of the proceedings.
“Baseball has set ten new attendance records since [the strike in 1994],” said Kincade. “Baseball teams have tripled in revenues. Baseball teams’ values have quadrupled.”
Some baseball fans are already preparing for a disappointing summer without the game, including co-host Bob Cooney. If the lockout stretches into the regular season, he admits that baseball will undoubtedly lose part of his fandom.
“I’m watching golf now because I really want to get into it, [and] because I’m anticipating baseball’s going to screw me come April, May, June, whatever,” expressed Cooney. “I don’t speak in… absolutes, but I’m sitting there saying: ‘If they’re going to do this, I’m really going to look for another form of entertainment in the summer.’ I really am.”
Jamie Lynch, who has been a staple of morning programming on 97.5 The Fanatic since 2015, was discontented with the 1994-95 strike since it happened in the midst of an ongoing season. He fears a similar outcome could befall young people this time around, especially if it drags on for an extended period of time.
“The [1994-95 strike] damaged me,” explained Lynch. “It changed me as a fan of the sport… I honestly couldn’t comprehend why grown men were saying ‘no’ to playing a game. There’s probably kids out there now that are going: ‘Wait. Why aren’t they playing?’”
Kincade hopes more on-air hosts, when they hear ‘the biggest lie in sports radio,’ will call the disseminators of that message out for the falsity inherent in that statement.
“I want to hear a host go, ‘You know you’re coming back. You’re full of it. You’re coming back…,’” said Kincade. “Over and over again, the proof is there that people come back, and they come back in bigger numbers than they ever had before – and they spend more money, by the way.”
“I’ve heard hosts do that,” said Pat Egan, co-host of the morning drive program in the “City of Brotherly Love,” “but it’s a very reactionary statement… When the games restart, and they always restart, eventually, you’re back. You’re watching – every time – because you’re a sports fan.”
