Eleven years ago baseball suffered its worst strike, wiping out the World Series and triggering a long, ugly winter of trash-talking and what amounted to the trashing of the Clinton Administration. Owners tried to argue that if there were a salary cap that guaranteed 55 percent of revenues would go to player salaries, everyone would profit.

Guess what? Bud Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf and friends had it right. Scott Eyre, who from 2002-2004 had a 4.00 ERA, was 2-for-9 in save opportunities and allowed 183 hits in 184 1/3 innings, got $11 million for three years. The letter guys -- A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan -- could haul in $60 million for five years and $36 million for four years, respectively. The Kansas City Royals have two-year deals out there for Kenny Rogers, Elmer Dessens and Reggie Sanders, all reputed to be classmates of Orrin Hatch.

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