MLB stars troll on social media after current player images removed in wake of lockout
Major League Baseball has been in an official lockout for about a day now, and it’s already getting weird.
The 30 MLB team owners voted on Wednesday to implement the shutdown after negotiations with the players’ union over a new collective bargaining agreement proved futile.
The two sides had been meeting at a Las Colinas hotel. It’s the league’s first work stoppage in 26 years. The previous CBA had been in place the past five years. The last time games were canceled because of labor dispute was in 1994 when the players went on strike in August, effectively ending the season.
“We took this action with the support of all 30 clubs after we failed to reach a new agreement with the Players’ Association despite our very best efforts,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said at a press conference at Globe Life Field Thursday. “We came to Texas to make a deal. We committed to the process. We made proposals, and it just did not happen.”
Soon after the lockout was official late Wednesday, MLB properties on the internet, including MLB.com, and signage on stadiums across the league, were altered to take down any images of current players.
Any use of active players’ images would be a violation of labor laws, according to Manfred.
While players’ names and statistics are still found on the league’s sites, including the Texas Rangers site, all images and stories about current players have been taken down. In fact, the Rangers site currently includes stories on Nolan Ryan’s sixth no-hitter and Pudge Rodriguez’s nine RBI game.
Multiple players have attempted to troll the league by taking their profile pictures off their social media accounts.
“Until a new agreement is reached, there will be limitations on the type of content we display,” a message posted on every team MLB site said. “As a result, you will see a lot more content that focuses on the game’s rich history. Once a new agreement is reached, the up-to-the minute news and analysis you have come to expect will continue as usual.”
MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark accused the league of being “more interested in the appearance of bargaining than bargaining itself.”
“It would have been beneficial to the process to have spent as much time negotiating in the room [this week] as it appeared was spent on the letter,” Clark said.
During the lockout, players and teams can’t communicate. Trades and other formal moves to teams’ 40-man rosters are frozen until an agreement is found. Players aren’t allowed to use team facilities during the lockout.
The winter meetings in Orlando have been canceled.
This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 3:57 PM.
