During his eight-year career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Charlie Batch held down the backup quarterback role behind Ben Roethlisberger, giving his hometown Black and Gold some peace of mind at the most important position in sports.
But Batch’s most important role arguably came as a player representative for the NFL Players Association and later the NFLPA Vice President on the Executive Committee, a position he held during a contentious 2011 collective bargaining agreement negotiation with owners.
That year, Batch and the Steelers voted no to end the lockout, feeling frustrated with how the NFL had treated the franchise, particularly when it came to punishments handed down by Commissioner Roger Goodell. Not to mention, players were upset with revenue splits, benefits, expansion of the regular season and more.
At the time, the league was in a 132-day lockout. The NFL and most of the players wanted to get back to business.
The Steelers, including Batch, did not.
That decision to vote no, making it a 31-1 decision to end the lockout, had Batch feeling like he was about to be out of a job.
Speaking Monday at an annual lunch gathering of WPIAL football coaching legends at Grandview Golf Club in North Braddock, Batch recalled that tumultuous 2011 negotiation and his feelings after the Steelers voted no. He believed it might be the end of his time in Pittsburgh — and maybe the NFL.
“We’re sitting back in training camp and you have 10,000 people at training camp, and all of the sudden I had to sit in a meeting and present to our players the collective bargaining agreement, the one I had helped put together,” Batch told Steelers Depot at the luncheon. “We’re sitting there and we’re about an hour and a half later for practice and all of the sudden we leave the meeting room and [Steelers GM Kevin Colbert] says, ‘Charles, how did the meeting go?’ I said, ‘It went great.’ I immediately called my wife after that and said, ‘Babe, you might want to get up here for training camp because I’m probably cut.’ She said, ‘What the hell happened?’ I said, ‘Just put your stuff together and get ready to come up here and let me get ready to go to practice.’ I called her back and she was on the turnpike, off [Route] 30, getting near Irwin and from there she gets to the field and I look over at Mr. Rooney and he give me a little look and she said, ‘What happened?’ I said, ‘We actually voted no for the CBA.’
“And the CBA was 31-1, so the guy leading that charge, that was me. I thought I was fired. But in fairness to the Rooney family they said, ‘We’ll let business [stay] business,’ and I was able to play for two more seasons after that.”
The Steelers’ vote came after a tough 2010 season in which the franchise found itself as seemingly public enemy No. 1 from the league’s perspective. Former outside linebacker James Harrison was fined and later suspended for some of his on-field hits, leading to anger from Steelers players who felt they were being treated unfairly.
Though other teams voted to end the 132-day lockout, the Steelers stood their ground and voted no. Ultimately, the players received things such as higher revenue splits and improved benefits. The league also took steps to implement better safety by ending two-a-day practices along with the limit of padded practices throughout the season, cutting down unnecessary wear and tear.
But that tumultuous vote had Batch thinking his career was over. Fortunately for Batch, the Steelers left business on the business side of the table, keeping it from impacting the football side.
Former Steelers GM Kevin Colbert was sitting next to Batch at the luncheon and recalled the Rooneys’ response after the lockout vote.
“Like Charlie said the Rooneys were like, ‘OK, they stood up for what they believed. That’s fine,’” Colbert said.
Batch stuck around for the 2011 and 2012 seasons in Pittsburgh, making one of the memorable starts of his career in 2012 against the Baltimore Ravens.
Batch started for the injured Roethlisberger and completed 25-of-36 passes for 276 yards with one touchdown and one interception, leading the Steelers to a 23-20 win over Baltimore. It gave them a slim chance of making the playoffs.
Pittsburgh didn’t make the playoffs that season, but that win was the last game Baltimore lost en route to winning the Super Bowl.
“A lot of people remember that game 14 years later because it was against the Ravens. You turn around and go, ‘You know what? That’s a good game to go out on,’” Batch said.