Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 20, 1990 TAG: 9003232684
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Today, spring training workouts started in Florida and Arizona. Orel Hershiser, Darryl Strawberry and Dave Stewart got an early jump Monday, and crowds came to see them.
"My wife woke me up at 6 a.m.," Minnesota's Juan Berenguer said. "I asked her why and she said, `You're going back to work.' "
The four-year contract between owners and players was signed at 5:54 a.m. Monday after an all-day, all-night bargaining session. That ended the 32-day lockout, but Opening Day was still delayed until April 9, a week later than scheduled.
Meanwhile, major league executives worked feverishly to save the 162-game schedule. All teams are set to play 158 games, and efforts are being made to restore the others. Doubleheaders, filling open dates and adding games at the end of the season are among the ways available.
If games were added at the end, it would push the postseason back. CBS Sports, which has contract rights for the playoffs and World Series, would have to give its approval.
"We're all trying to work together for the best possible solution," CBS Sports communications director Susan Kerr said. "We are an element of the puzzle."
A decision is expected later this week on the missing games. No matter what, it will be strange.
Because the season will pick up as scheduled on April 9, Minnesota now will open with 11 straight on the road and Baltimore will play nine in a row on the road. California and Kansas City each will begin with nine-game homestands.
The Cincinnati Reds, who traditionally start the major-league season at home, will open on the road for the first time since 1966.
"We had everything planned," Reds owner Marge Schott said. "It's a very big disappointment to me. The big thing is, it cost us our Opening Day."
There are other changes, too.
With spring training shortened, teams can expand rosters to 27 players, up from 24, in the first three weeks. Starting May 1, it goes back to 24.
Also, because pitchers probably will not be as strong at the beginning of the season, starters will need to go only three innings, instead of the usual five, to get credit for victories in April.
The players' union asked for the shift and the Playing Rules Committee, along with league presidents Bobby Brown and Bill White, agreed.
Starting pitchers like the idea.
"That's pretty nice," said Mike Norris, who is attempting a comeback with Oakland at age 35. "Three innings isn't very long, is it?"
It didn't take long for everyone to get back into the swing of spring.
Strawberry was the first of 20 New York Mets to check into camp, arriving around 8 a.m. at the team's complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Many fans stood in the rain to watch the big leaguers come back.
Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr., Baltimore's Gregg Olson, Atlanta's Tom Glavine and Hershiser were among the early arrivals elsewhere.
In Phoenix, Ariz., pitchers Dennis Eckersley, Mike Moore, Stewart and Norris played catch at the camp of the World Series champion Athletics. Ticket lines were so long that an office worker hurriedly said, "We're so busy we don't have time to talk on the phone."
Exhibition games will start March 26. Juggling the exhibition schedule is turning out to be as difficult as patching together the regular-season plans.
Several teams are trying to rework spring schedules that had included road games in places such as Des Moines, Memphis and Oklahoma City.
The annual Freeway Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and California Angels, scheduled for March 30-April 1, has been switched to April 6-8.
THE SETTLEMENT FACTS AND FIGURES Arbitration: Salary arbitration eligibility for 17 percent of the players with between two and three years of service. Those players must have spent at least 86 days on the roster in the previous season. Salary: A $100,000 minimum salary for major leaguers, up from $68,000, and a $25,000 minimum for minor leaguers, up from $22,700. Pension: An annual $55 million contribution by owners to the players' pension fund, up from $39 million in the last year of the old agreement. More talks: Either side may reopen the contract on major issues after three years. Rosters: Rosters will stay at 24 players this season. They will expand to 25 in 1991 and stay that way at least through expansion. Expansion: Baseball will announce plans within 90 days to expand to two National League cities. Collusion: Union will get triple damages if owners are found guilty of collusion again. Free agents: The deadline moves from January to October for clubs to decide whether to arbitrate with former free agents covered by repeater rights restriction. Commission: Six-man study commission on the baseball industry.
(from a.m. edition)
by CNB