Ballplayers Set Aug. 30 Strike Date
Proposed stoppage would be Major League's ninth since 1972

August 16, 2002

NEW YORK  — In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, it's deja vu all over again for America's baseball fans.

The Major League Baseball players voted Friday to strike on Aug. 30 if they are unable to reach a contract agreement with the owners, a senior member of the union's executive board said.

The strike vote sets the stage for baseball's ninth work stoppage since 1972.

And that would be nine work stoppages too many for most fans, including President Bush, who shouted 'Foul!' when asked about the possibility of a strike.

"The baseball owners and the baseball players must understand that if there is a stoppage, a work stoppage, a lot of fans are going to be furious, and I'm one of them," Bush said.

"It's very important for these people to get together," he added. "They can make every excuse in the book not to reach an accord. It is bad for them not to reach an accord."

The president, a former managing partner of the Texas Rangers, did not indicate that he had any plans to intervene and offered no proposals to break the deadlock. is not a scientific poll.

The player representatives from the 30 Major League teams agreed to set the strike date during a 90-minute conference call that came after three days of unproductive bargaining.

The union office was expected to issue a formal announcement of the decision later in the day.

When the executive board met in Chicago on Monday, it deferred setting a strike date, hoping to spur talks without a deadline. But the sides made little progress on the key economic issues during three days of negotiations, and players were angered by management's lack of movement.

The owners' desire for a luxury tax that would restrain spending by high-payroll teams is the key issue blocking a settlement.

"We're trying to find a way to resolve the whole situation," Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa said. "They set a strike date because I think things have been tough. We have to do what we've got to do. I think that's the only way we can get something done."

There was no immediate response from commissioner Bud Selig, who has pressed for major economic changes. Selig has said for a decade that the major leagues cannot survive without concessions from players.

The last strike began Aug. 12, 1994, dragged on for 232 days, and wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years. The walkout ended only after a federal judge issued an injunction restoring the rules of the expired labor contract.

Baseball has a perfect record in labor talks, with eight stoppages in eight negotiations, primarily caused by management's attempts to slow salaries in the free-agent era, which began in 1976.

The Aug. 30 strike date, the Friday of Labor Day weekend, means that if players walk out and the season is not completed, they will lose 16.9 percent of their base salaries. Texas shortstop Alex Rodriguez stands to lose the most, $3,557,377.05 of his $21 million salary this year. A player at the $200,000 minimum would lose $33,879.78.

After meeting twice Thursday, the sides didn't even bother to schedule a bargaining session Friday, and people aligned with management and the union described the sides as far apart. Negotiators on both sides refused comment Thursday.

"It wasn't good today. They made another proposal that was fairly meaningless," Atlanta's Tom Glavine, the National League player representative, said. "I think we're basically sitting back waiting for them to give us a serious offer."

Owners originally proposed a 50 percent tax on the portions of payrolls over $98 million, then moved up their threshold last weekend to $100 million. Since Monday's meeting, management has moved up to $102 million, according to a player and two player agents who spoke on the condition they not be identified.

"I've gone from as optimistic as I can be to as pessimistic as I can be," Braves player representative Mike Remlinger said after the two sessions. "It's back to just a flat out refusal to move."

The union fears that a luxury tax along those lines, when combined with increased revenue sharing, would act as a salary cap because it would drain large amounts of money from high-revenue teams. Players, not wanting a tax at all, reluctantly proposed one with a much higher threshold and a much lower rate.

"We made an offer to try to rein in the Yankees and maybe one or two others," Glavine said. "Instead, they want to affect six or seven [teams] immediately, and maybe six or seven more on the periphery. That's a salary cap."

Players don't want to finish the season without a contract, convinced owners will lock them out or change work rules over the winter. The union prefers to have a late-season stoppage, when more of the owners' revenue is at stake, than a confrontation at the start of next season.

"It's no secret that we're running out of time," Arizona's Rick Helling said. "There's only a month-and-a-half left to go in the season. We're obviously getting to that point where time is becoming a major issue."

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