This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's April 10 MLB Preview Issue. Subscribe today!
Thirty years ago this September, NFL players went on strike to fight for true unrestricted free agency. It's something baseball, hockey and basketball players take for granted, but NFL players have long been ridiculed for not having it and not fighting hard enough to attain it.
The walkout lasted all of 24 days, and the players got demolished.
Because of their deals with the league, the networks still had to pay their rights fees, and they broadcast games with replacement players.