PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Max Scherzer, the Mets’ new star pitcher, was perhaps the most prominent face of the players’ union battle with Major League Baseball club owners over a new employment contract.
He sits on a top union subcommittee. Last month, he participated in nine consecutive days of face-to-face negotiations in Jupiter, Fla., which included a 16 1/2 hour marathon session. And he spent countless hours on the phone with his peers across the league — while trying to reconcile fatherhood and preparing for the season.
“The X’s and O’s of the suggestions and everything, I enjoyed being at the forefront of that,” Scherzer, 37, said on Saturday afternoon, the day before the players had to show up for the rushed, abbreviated spring training session. “The hardest part was the amount of phone calls I had to make and communicate with everyone in the game trying to get this information out.”
So how did Scherzer celebrate after the deal was approved Thursday and the MLB-imposed lockout ended?
