Joe Morgan and J.R. Richard’s (not so ) Secret Mission

On April 1st, 1980, members of the Major League Baseball Players Association voted to walk out of the final week of spring training. The move was a warning shot intended to get the attention of the team owners who were longing for the good old days before free agency.

Some teams stayed at their spring training sites and hosted informal workouts. Some teams disbanded and went home for a quick break before opening day.

But the most bizarre incident took place in the Orlando airport when Houston Astros third baseman Enos Cabell decided to head home after the strike vote. Teammates Joe Morgan and J.R. Richard wanted Cabell to stay in camp and continue to work out with the team. Their desire for team unity was so great that the two of them, 5 foot 8 Morgan and 6 foot 8 Richard, were seen sprinting through the airport in full uniform trying to track down Cabell before he boarded his 12:40 p.m. flight to California.

“We didn’t know which airline,” said Morgan. So we had to run around the airport looking for a flight that left at that time for Los Angeles.”

“It tripped me out,” said Cabell. “When I saw Joe and J – man, I couldn’t believe it. Neither could anyone at the airport.”

“We thought he should stay along with the rest of us,” said Morgan. “I told him if I’d done all that running around the airport, making a spectacle of myself with my uniform on and found out he wouldn’t come back, there was gonna be a fight right there on the spot.”