Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A hodgepodge of potential strikebreakers, minor-leaguers and non-roster invitees milled about the New York Yankees' locker room Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., providing a preview of replacement baseball.
And like the strike itself, the presence of the players raised more questions than it answered.
``We told them our policy - and I hope you get this correct - that they are not replacement players until April 3,'' said Gene Michael, the Yankees' general manager.
``We're not calling them major-leaguers, we're not calling them minor-leaguers, we're calling it `Yankees spring training,' and if they make the team, they'll become major-leaguers and play the games,'' Michael said.
Four teams - the Yankees, St.Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants - will have replacement players in uniform today when they open camps to pitchers and catchers. Other teams will begin practice by Monday.
The Yankees held an orientation session in the morning, before players underwent physicals, received uniforms and got a feel for the spring training complex.
The Yankees issued a roster with 27 players' names, but the team made no differentiation between the 14 minor-leaguers who are going about business as usual and the 13 others who are either replacement players or non-roster invitees.
When the baseball strike began Aug.12, the 763 players who were on major-league rosters stopped working. Since then, the Major League Baseball Players' Association has asked all players on 40-man rosters (major-leaguers and minor-league prospects) to stay out of camp. That has pushed the total of potential strikers to nearly 1,100.
In addition, the union has asked minor-leaguers to boycott games involving replacements. Michael said none of the players on the Yankees' 40-man roster had agreed to come to camp.
``We're going to bring in the best players we can,'' Michael said. ``We're hopeful that the caliber will be good enough, we don't know exactly what it is because it's new territory, but we are going to have baseball.''
The Baltimore Orioles are refusing to field a team of strikebreakers. At their camp in Sarasota, Fla., on Wednesday, all the fields were unoccupied except for a lawn mower. The clubhouse was practically empty.
``I keep looking up, thinking Mike Mussina or Ben McDonald might come walking in,'' said manager Phil Regan. ``I'm trying to stay positive through this thing, but I guess it looks like they may not be coming in for a while.''
Among the minor-leaguers:
Mark Carper, 28, pitched for Class AAA Columbus last season, has not decided yet if he will be a strikebreaker. ``I haven't made that decision yet,'' Carper said. ``I'm weighing trying to support my family vs. going against the union. It's probably the toughest decision of my life.''
Among the replacement players:
Nelson Perpetpu, 22, plays for a semipro team in Brooklyn and was contacted by the Yankees on Monday. He played for the Tigers' rookie-league team in 1992. His semipro team has toured the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. ``I once threw a no-hitter against the Dominican Air Force,'' he said.
Juan Velasquez, 29, is a catcher who hasn't played for three years. He now sells satellite dishes and has taken a leave of absence from his job. He said he agreed to be a replacement player to make money to support his three children.
Then there were the players who weren't sure if they were replacements or not:
Daryl Smith, 33, pitched in Mexico in 1993 before joining Baltimore's Class AA affiliate in September. ``I want to make the Triple-A team, not a replacement team,'' he said.
by CNB