Iron Man overtook Iron Horse just when baseball needed it
The haggling between billionaire owners and multi-millionaire players hit rock bottom on Sept. 14, 1994 when Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced that autumn’s World Series was being canceled. The news impacted the sports world like a fastball to the noggin. A marquee event that transcended baseball and had survived a pandemic, two world wars and the Great Depression was being called on account of greed. Say it ain’t so, Bud. Say it ain’t so.
When the following season began three weeks late after still more squabbling and the threat of replacement players, many turned-off fans vowed to tune out. For good. Their frustration had been building over time, as baseball suffered five work stoppages in the previous 14 seasons. The felled Fall Classic was the final straw for many. Millions stopped following the game, as attendance and television ratings plummeted. The national pastime was in deep trouble.
Fortunately for baseball, The Strike was followed by The Streak. And as Cal Ripken Jr. closed in on Lou Gehrig’s hallowed record of 2,130 consecutive
