Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1990 TAG: 9003142549
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
On the 27th day of the owners' lockout, American League president Bobby Brown said games would not be made up if more than two or three were canceled from each club's 162-game schedule.
Thus, it appears baseball will have its third shortened season in 17 years, since no agreement is in sight after 3 1/2 months of bargaining between the Players Association and the clubs. The last negotiating session was last Wednesday and no talks are scheduled.
Union chief Donald Fehr and management negotiator Chuck O'Connor spoke several times by telephone Tuesday, but Fehr said "nothing of substance" was discussed.
Management's six-owner Player Relations Committee met by conference call and decided to allow minor league teams to play exhibition games in major league spring training ballparks.
Spring training communities had asked for this, and O'Connor said he thought some minor league teams would do so. He also cautioned that no one should mistake these for big league games, and said a portion of ticket receipts would be given to charity.
President Bush on Tuesday called on "both sides to get the matter resolved so the American people can hear that cry, `Play ball' again."
Opening day is scheduled for April 2, and both sides have said players need at least three weeks of spring training to get ready.
Meanwhile, Houston owner John McMullen said the union was "incapable of making a deal."
"The owners surrendered unconditionally, and now they refuse to accept the surrender," McMullen was quoted as saying in the Houston Chronicle. ". . . You've got players there who when they have an argument with their wives, they've got to call their agent to settle it. And they are up there negotiating a major league contract. It's crazy."
George W. Bush, son of the president and part-owner of the Texas Rangers, suggested the union submit management's $4 million bonus pool proposal to all players for a vote.
"If in fact there is disgruntlement amongst the rank and file, the leadership will hear about it," the younger Bush said. "And one way is private ballot. Now, if that's considered union busting, I don't mean it to be."
Fehr didn't take the idea seriously.
"It's unbecoming for somebody who's never been to a negotiating meeting to pass judgment on what's going on," he said. ". . . The other owners won't even let him in."
Even O'Connor distanced himself from the hard-line Rangers owner.
"The internal workings of a union are strictly those of the union," O'Connor said. "It's not something we are insisting on or could insist on."
Vincent, Brown and NL president Bill White met in the morning to discuss what to do about opening day.
"We felt basically we could wait a few more days before we had to make a definite announcement, hoping something could occur in a positive way," Brown said. "We didn't want to make some sort of a big pronouncement and start scrambling and change it. We just want to hold out."
The first 86 games of the 1972 season were canceled by a strike and a 50-day walkout by players in the middle of the 1981 season forced cancellation of 712 games. In 1985, a two-day strike affected 25 games but all those that mattered to the pennant races were made up.
"If you only scrap two or three, I guess you look to see if you can squeeze them in with doubleheaders," Brown said. "There's not that much flexibility in the schedule. But, at the very least, we're going to try to make it so that all the teams play the same number of games."
In 1972, Detroit won the AL East with a 86-70 record, one half-game ahead of Boston, which finished 85-70. The Tigers played one more game because of the strike.
by CNB