In the former, conflicting parties define the allowed moves and countermoves ambiguously, if at all. In a poker game, players raise the stakes to find out how good a competitor's cards are. But in wage negotiations, only a strike will reveal what the company's wallet really looks like. A closer look at the press coverage of the 1994 baseball strike yielded plenty of evidence for Wilson's theories. We owners didn't have much credibility.
Baseball is financially healthy.
Players just did not believe club owners, because there was no way for them to get their hands on credible sources of information. Unions and employers often don't talk to each other at all during the initial phase of a strike. Enduring the strike is nerve-wracking. As on a first date, the ability to stay cool separates the men from the boys. A prosperous firm that has hidden money from the union during the wage negotiations will get nervous after the first few days of a strike.