Ueberroth Pays Social Visit on Dodgers, Braves

Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth addressed both the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves in brief sessions behind closed clubhouse doors Friday at Dodger Stadium, then stayed to watch the game.

The continuing impasse in labor negotiations notwithstanding, Ueberroth said he had “just stopped by to say hello.” Before he left, the Dodger players applauded.

“I wanted to come by and meet everybody, introduce myself,” Ueberroth said. “It didn’t take any more than two minutes.”

It’s not every day the commissioner stops by. Dodger pitcher Jerry Reuss said he couldn’t recall Ueberroth’s predecessor, Bowie Kuhn, paying a similar social call.

Reuss, asked if Ueberroth’s visit was as innocent as he claimed it was, said: “Maybe, maybe not.” But the commissioner made no appeal to the players regarding a possible walkout.

“He just said he wished things would go a little faster,” Reuss said. “Who doesn’t?”

Ueberroth, asked about signs increasingly pointing toward a players’ strike, said: “I don’t want to talk about those things. . . . I don’t agree with what either side has put on the table. I’ll take an active role and try to help it along. That’s all.”

Mike Scioscia, the Dodger player representative, said he would be open to Ueberroth’s involvement in negotiations.

“I’d welcome anyone who could step in and get things moving,” said Scioscia, who described the current status of negotiations as “still bad.”

“Ideally, we would hope to get things worked out between our association and the owners. I don’t know if there’s any friction built up between Donald Fehr of our association and the owners’ Player Relations Committee that might be stalling negotiations.

“But if something like that was the case, I’d welcome a third party to help things.”

Ueberroth said he’ll be in Chicago Monday for the 75th anniversary of Comiskey Park.

“I’m not a sit-behind-the-desk kind of guy,” he said.