From the Archives: Dodgers’ Reggie Smith plans to go fishing during baseball strike

With Major League Baseball on the verge of another strike, Reggie Smith announced his plans.

Staff writer Mike Littwin reported in the May 22, 1980, Los Angeles Times:

NEW YORK–A threatened baseball strike that would begin Friday (May 23, 1980) is now a near-certainty. A four-hour negotiating session Wednesday brought the parties no closer to settlement than when it began.

A last-ditch effort to avert the strike, which Federal mediator Kenneth Moffett said baseball was "heading pell mell toward," will be made today in a 10 a.m. meeting at the Doral Inn.

The players made a revised proposal, which is expected to be their last, in Wednesday's session, but owners counsel Ray Grebey characterized the offer as "nothing new or different."…

But Smith did not go fishing. At 5 a.m. on Friday, May 23, 1980, the players and owners agreed to a new four-year agreement.

This post was originally published on March 25, 2014.