Official ruling clears way for season to begin

The Journal Sentinel staff

Baseball owners lost again in court Tuesday, but what else is new? Their attorneys have become to union lawyers what Hamilton Berger was to Perry Mason.

As expected, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in New York denied a request by owners to stay the injunction issued against them last week. The ruling cleared the way for the delayed 1995 baseball season to begin April 26.

No one was sure what owners would have done had the injunction been stayed, but it's doubtful the invitation to major-leaguers to spring camps would have remained open. Certainly not without a labor agreement or the prospect of one.

But it became evident very quickly that players didn't have to worry about that possibility. A three-judge panel legally undressed management lawyer Frank Casey, accusing him of poor strategy and of "going around in circles."

Owners were granted an expedited appeal, with briefs to be filed in late April, but Tuesday's one-sided proceeding made it extremely doubtful the ruling by federal judge Sonia Sotomayor will be overturned. Sotomayor fired a third strike past owners Friday by restoring the work rules of the previous agreement.

Acting commissioner Bud Selig declined to comment on Tuesday's court session, but Brewers vice president Wendy Selig- Prieb, the team counsel and member of the management negotiating team, said owners were expecting the worse.

"There's not much to say it speaks for itself," she said. "We'll now go forward with the expedited appeal."

Ironically, Casey was told the owners' biggest mistake occurred during one of the few times they backed down during the dispute. Under threat of an unfair labor complaint by the National Labor Relations Board, owners on Feb. 3 dropped their attempt to declare an impasse in bargaining.

"You could have fought that in court and had a heck of a good case," said Judge Ralph K. Winter. "You didn't."

Three days later, owners unilaterally eliminated salary arbitration, free-agent bidding and anti-collusion rules, claiming they weren't mandatory elements of bargaining. Sotomayor said otherwise in her injunction.

So, with the owners' legal team once again in full retreat, players will participate in voluntary workouts beginning Wednesday, with mandatory sessions starting Friday. The exhibition season will begin April 13, with the shortened, 144-game regular season set to open April 26.

The back-to-work agreement provides for rosters expanded from 25 to 28 players until May 15. The sides also are trying to work out exhibition games for free agents attending the union's training camp in Homestead, Fla.

The delayed opening has pushed back all of the game's business deadlines. Eligible players will exchange salary arbitration figures with owners on April 28, with hearings set for May. Those players must sign between April 12-14, and will be paid what they are owed, with interest, if they win their hearings later.

To retain rights to arbitration- eligible players, teams must retender contracts by Friday. The Brewers have four eligible players pitchers Jaime Navarro, Mike Fetters and Bob Scanlan, and outfielder Turner Ward.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Copyright 1995
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