Baseball Will Have Plenty Of Cheap Seats If Replacement Players Take Field

Replacement baseball will be cheap baseball in more ways than one.

Not only will it be less than major-league caliber, it will be less than full price, too.

Eighteen of the 28 major-league teams have decided to cut regularseason ticket prices if games are played by strikebreakers. Six teams are still up in the air on prices and only one team - the Cincinnati Reds - has decided to charge full fare.

The price cuts range from 33 percent by the Philadelphia Phillies to 78 percent by the Oakland Athletics. Fourteen teams will cut prices 50 percent, and some teams are pegging ticket prices to payroll costs in the assumption that some players will cross the picket line.

Spring training ticket prices are being cut, too.

Fifteen teams have cut prices between 18 and 80 percent, three teams are undecided and 10 will charge regular prices.

Many ticket managers have soothed their season-ticket holders by offering a money-back guarantee. Fans can return their tickets and get a full refund if they don’t want to see replacement players.

There is a catch, though, in almost all cases. Any season-ticket holder who opts for the refund must give up his seat. That’s a big catch in cases where fans have been season-ticket holders for years and have grandfather rights to great seats.