Michael Jordan left camp rather than risk being called a strikebreaker, 48-year-old reliever Pedro Borbon fell over backwards trying to do pregame drills and only 294 fans turned out to see the Kansas City Royals start their exhibition season.
Replacement baseball is here, all right. And, for better or worse, it may be around for a while.Strike talks in Scottsdale, Ariz., appear to have broken down, just 48 hours after both sides seemed to think a settlement was possible. Acting commissioner Bud Selig left town and moderate Colorado Rockies chairman Jerry McMorris, claiming he had been "used" by union head Donald Fehr, said it may be time to bring in hard-line owners to negotiate.
"Clearly people can and have become frustrated from time to time," Fehr said.
The sides met just briefly, but planned to resume talks today.
Meanwhile, the focus in Florida was on five spring training games, none of them drawing 700 fans, about one-tenth the size of crowds for exhibition openers in some years.
Thursday even saw the first trade of replacement players, with Cleveland sending five guys, including former major leaguer Barbaro Garbey, to Cincinnati for future considerations.
"Cleveland got the better of the deals," Reds manager Davey Johnson said. "They didn't get anybody."
The exhibition games were played with a mix of minor leaguers and replacement players, were called by replacement umpires, and generally received better-than-expected reviews. Scouts said the talent level was between Double-A and advanced Class A, far better than the slo-pitch softball range some predicted.
With about 600 fans present in Plant City, Fla., the Indians beat Cleveland 3-1 in a game that had only one error and two walks and was played in a crisp 2 hours, 17 minutes.
"This has been portrayed by a lot of people as a bunch of guys out of the beer leagues," Indians manager Mike Hargrove said. "The skill level obviously isn't the same as if we'd had Kenny Lofton or Albert Belle or Barry Larkin, but these weren't beer leaguers. These guys have played."
About 685 fans showed up in Bradenton, Fla., and saw Minnesota defeat Pittsburgh 6-4. Pirates reliever Jimmy Boudreau, 36, son of Hall of Famer Lou Boudrea, ran over Twins third base coach Ron Gardenhire while backing up the bag, leaving the coach with a torn Achilles tendon.
"It was a real sad day in the history of baseball," Pittsburgh manager Jim Leyland said. "It was awkward ... it was a tough day. They were all trying to do the best they can but ... "
Attendance at the other games was way down. The Royals drew under 300 for a game against Stetson University in Haines City, and about 600 fans saw the games between Los Angeles and the New York Yankees in Fort Lauderdale and Georgia Tech and Atlanta in West Palm Beach.
"When the Braves were bad, this is the kind of crowd we'd get, with the stands half-empty," Mort Mendelsohn of Jupiter, Fla., said.
The spring season started with one game Wednesday. Most teams were scheduled to play today, including the Philadelphia Phillies, whose opener against Baltimore was canceled because of the Orioles' refusal to use replacement players and play against them.
Whether to play or not has been the big question for many minor leaguers, caught in the squeeze between management and the players union.