MILWAUKEE — After a long winter in Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin, what do people want for hope? It's baseball.
Finally a tentative agreement between the players union and Major League Baseball (MLB) will make that happen, salvaging a 162-game season that will begin April 7.
On the 99th day of a lockout that delayed spring training and threatened to cancel regular-season games for the first time since 1995, the players’ executive board approved a five-year contract at about 3 p.m. in a 28-12 vote. Owners ratified the deal 30-0 just three hours later, and the lockout was lifted at 7 p.m., ending baseball’s ninth work stoppage.
At American Family Field, Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger says one of his biggest frustrations is making sure that people get their paychecks. Whether it's beer vendors or people who sell the food or parking attendants, they rely on the income.
"It weighed on me and I know it weighed on everybody in our offices here," said Schlesinger. "Especially after what we've gone through the past few years, and the thought of missing games and people missing paychecks. for them to have the uncertainty about whether they were going to make money and get paid, that's a burden."
Some of the new details agreed upon? A 12 team playoff,a universal DH, as well as nine inning doubleheaders. The goal is to try and get all 162 games in, this season.
