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Friday, December 31, 1993
Deadline expected to pass with no agreement; Players will be eligible to be drafted
NEW YORK, NY - MLBPA executive director Donald Fehr announced that the MLB and MLBPA had officially reached an impasse and that the deadline would not be met. Fehr announced that negotiations may be re-opened in June 1994, making good on his threat to shut down talks for six months if an agreement was not reached by year's end.
In addition, Fehr announced that all players that are members of the players association were automatically submitted for eligibility in this Sunday's USBL Inaugural Draft and were all eligible unless they withdrew themselves.
This was an amazing breakthrough for IAB's Anthony Odarczenko and USBL's Robby Ruggles, who were guaranteed to stick around after the agreement with ***, but now have had their association lifted to world-class status.
Major League Baseball acting commissioner Bud Selig made a statement regarding the MLBPA's decision: "This is a sad and regretful day for the game of baseball. Major League Baseball has been, is, and always will be the stick by which the game will be measured. The greatest players in the world have always played in this league, and it is regrettable that this will not be the case for the 1994 season. I cannot speak to whether or not, the game will ever be as great as it once was. I am announcing the cancellation of the 1994 Major League Baseball season. The league offices will be closed until April 4 while we make efforts to bring back the game you know and love."
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