For It's One, Two, Three, Four Strikes You're Out at the Owners' Ball Game

the long version

"Many assume incorrectly that confrontations between baseball's players and management began in the 1960s when the Major League Baseball Players Association started showing their stuff, prompting the owners to form the Player Relations Committee. In February 1968, the two groups then negotiated the game's first Basic Agreement." "Struggles between players and management did not, however, start there - the two groups have had quite a number of clashes since baseball began (as well as since the 1968 agreement).". "This work traces the history of the relationship between players and management from baseball's early years to the turmoil of spring training lockouts instigated by the owners, and player strikes in 1972, 1981, 1985, and 1994. An important agreement in 1996 brought labor peace once again. The future of player-management relations is also discussed."--BOOK JACKET.