It Was a Strike Against Baseball’s Hall of Fame

How devastating was the 1994-1995 baseball strike?

Attendance at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., began dropping a week before the players walked out in 1994, has continued to decline since and now runs 33% below pre-strike levels.

That has cost the self-supporting museum $1 million, posing a threat to its future.

“We need the support of the American people in terms of visitation and in financial support,” Hall of Fame President Don Marr told USA Today. “. . . I’m hoping that the fans come through for us. We’re at our wits’ end.”

Says curator Ted Spencer: “It’s painful now and a little scary too. The bottom just fell out.”

Trivia time: Who led the San Francisco 49ers in rushing in 1978?

The great rebuilder: Chicago Bull owner Jerry Reinsdorf suggests he can hardly wait to break up his team, even though, with five titles in seven years, it seems to work OK.

However, Reinsdorf’s history with the White Sox, whom he also owns, suggests rebuilding is no sure thing. After giving Albert Belle $55 million, he saw his White Sox running third in the American League Central--3 1/2 games off the lead--and held a fire sale, auctioning off stars Harold Baines, Wilson Alvarez and Roberto Hernandez.

Says the New York Times’ George Vecsey: “Reinsdorf has the mood swings of a man going through a midlife crisis. Spend! Sell! Whatever!”

Add crisis: Reinsdorf has reasons for wanting to break up the Bulls, such as personal pique.

He recently called Michael Jordan’s plea that they be allowed to defend their title “totally unacceptable” and bristled when Jordan vowed he would only play for Coach Phil Jackson.

“My initial reaction when Michael made what I consider to be inappropriate comments was to say, ‘The heck with him, I’m in charge,’ ” Reinsdorf said.

“Because after all, no player is going to tell me who has to coach the ballclub. But at the same time, it would have been pretty dumb on my part to say, ‘Well, I’m going to show him who the boss is.’ ”

Kids: St. Louis Ram Coach Dick Vermeil, returning to the NFL after a 15-year absence, is learning things have changed.

Take his quarterback, Tony Banks. He wanted to bring a Rottweiler puppy, Felony, to camp. In Vermeil’s day, quarterbacks didn’t name dogs after criminal classifications, nor did they bring them to camp.

“Tony doesn’t need the distraction,” said Vermeil, banishing the puppy.

“I don’t want them thinking I’m concentrating on anything but football,” says Banks, “so I’m taking her home, even though she’s not going to know me when I get back.”

Trivia answer: O.J. Simpson with 593 yards.

And finally: Fox Sports recently held its NFL preseason seminar for announcers in Marina del Rey, prompting participants to look back to 1994 when the network was just getting into sports.

“Because of the ’94 World Cup [soccer tournament], we couldn’t even get into L.A. for the first meeting,” John Madden told USA Today. “We had to go to Anaheim.

“We had only one sport. That’s why I called it Fox Sport.”