Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
And for the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court created the exemption in 1922, a congressional committee approved a bill to partially remove it.
``I think we want to put this league and the players on notice that the antitrust exemption they enjoyed is on its deathbed,'' Rep. Mike Synar, D-Okla., said after the House Judiciary Committee approved his bill by a voice vote.
``It's a significant step forward,'' said Donald Fehr, head of the players' union, after a meeting with players in Grapevine, Texas. ``Momentum is building and it's building quickly.''
Hershiser, appearing before a separate panel, testified before Congress for the second time in eight days as lawmakers pushed for an end to the strike, which began Aug.12 and caused the first cancellation of the World Series since 1904.
While Rep. Pat Williams, D-Mont., said at the subcommittee hearing he would ``raise absolute legislative hell'' if the strike continues into 1995, it appeared unlikely any baseball bill will become law this year. Congress is set to adjourn next week and Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, has been unable to get the Senate to consider similar legislation.
``I think we're in trouble,'' said Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., a Metzenbaum ally on the antitrust bill. ``I don't think we've got the votes to pass it.''
Hershiser, who would rather be pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers, roamed the hallways of Capitol Hill on Thursday to lobby, along with Carlos Baerga of the Cleveland Indians and six other players.
``I am not a lawyer. I am not a politician. But I am both a player and a fan,'' New York Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams told the subcommittee. ``It seems clear to me the current system doesn't work.''
The exemption prevents players from suing owners, leading the union to strike in order to prevent management from imposing a salary cap. Football players gained liberalized free agency only after they filed a successful antitrust suit against NFL owners.
Synar's bill would eliminate the exemption if owners unilaterally impose work rules. While some Democrats argued for a more sweeping repeal, Rep. Hamilton Fish of New York, the committee's ranking Republican, spoke against the bill along with Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis.
``For Congress to come in at this point in time, at the end of the session, I think is a big mistake,'' Sensenbrenner said. ``Once this precedent is set, then people will try to get Congress to rearrange the shape of the bargaining table to give them a real or perceived advantage.''
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, voted against the bill.
``I don't think the congress should be intervening in the baseball strike right now,'' Goodlatte said.
Baseball's antitrust exemption is an issue the congress should address, he said, but trying to push legislation regarding it through Congress with the resolution of the strike in mind is not the best way to approach it.
The current bill is ``so watered down and focused on a fine point,'' he said, that it's doubtful it would do much to help resolve the strike.I'm assuming here the fact that the bill basically would just allow players to sue the owners in court and not much else is somewhere in the story you have
As for early concerns that removing the exemption might devastate minor-league teams such as those in Lynchburg and Salem, Goodlatte said it is pretty clear in the bill voted on Thursday that it applies only to major-league players.
At any rate, he added, the bill probably won't come to a vote in the house any time soon, since the last week of the session is drawing near.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, who also is on the house judiciary committee, could not be reached for comment.
House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., also didn't think the bill would pass this Congress.
``My sense of the strike is that government should not intrude into a collective bargaining or a strike situation and try to make a judgment on one side or the other,'' he said. ``I think we have to do it carefully. I don't want to make a snap judgment.''
Metzenbaum intends to propose the baseball legislation as an amendment to the District of Columbia spending bill, but his staff said Thursday he was unsure when he would have a chance to make his move.
On the House side, Pat Williams wore a New York Yankees cap for part of the subcommittee hearing he chaired. He spoke emotionally to management negotiator Richard Ravitch, owners' lawyer Chuck O'Connor and the union's No.2 official, Eugene Orza.
``It would be negligent of me as a baseball fan not to get you and the people you represent back to work by spring training,'' Williams said. ``I intend to raise absolute legislative hell between now and spring training to see that the '95 season goes on as planned, simply because the chairman of this committee is a damned baseball fan.''
Players and owners haven't met at the bargaining table since Sept.9. Williams prodded O'Connor to resume talks.
``Do you have a date? Can you call me in the morning with a date?'' Williams said.
After the hearing, Ravitch said owners were thinking about whether to declare an impasse and impose a salary cap.
``I think in the next month or so you will get some sense of it,'' he said.
by CNB