Analysis : Ueberroth Pitches Near-Perfect Game : Commissioner Makes Few Mistakes in Handling Dispute With an Effective Series of Behind-the-Scenes Maneuvers

The settlement of the 1985 baseball strike after just one day adds to the already impressive reputation of Commissioner Peter Ueberroth as a man who can get things done.

Shortly after Ueberroth announced the settlement in a brief press release, the New York Post came out with a banner headline that read, “Play Ball.” On the back page was a huge, almost romanticized picture of Ueberroth and the inscription that he had been a major force in the settlement.

Ueberroth, with inappropriate modesty, said Wednesday night that he had “no role” in the events that led to the end of the strike.

But knowledgeable friends both in the world of baseball and, from a distance, in Los Angeles, where Ueberroth ran the organizing committee that put on the 1984 Olympics, said he had made few mistakes in handling the dispute. They credited him with a series of behind-the-scenes maneuvers that helped smooth the way to the settlement.

Ueberroth had discussed many of these maneuvers in advance with associates both from the Olympic Committee and in baseball.

The commissioner weeks ago quietly adopted a policy of leaning toward the union and leaning on the owners as a means of bringing about a settlement.

The friends whom he confided in said his reasoning was that since there was no way he could compel the players not to strike, he had to see that the terms offered them were so satisfactory that they would not want to strike.

As for the owners, Ueberroth had concluded that, if necessary, he could use the powers of the commissioner’s office to act “in the best interests of baseball” to compel them to accept certain terms.

Ueberroth didn’t want to act in such a dramatic fashion, but after he dropped enough hints that he would do so, the owners got worried. Even the owners’ chief negotiator, Lee MacPhail, alluded Wednesday night to a fear the owners had of outside intervention against them. He could only have been talking of the man the owners themselves had hired as commissioner last year, Ueberroth.

The owners feared that if the strike went on, Ueberroth might offer his own terms that the union could accept. The players would then come back to play and the only option the owners would have would be to lock them out, something that undoubtedly would have been highly unpopular with the fans.

After June 1, in a series of clubhouse meetings with the players, Ueberroth made it clear that he was opposed to the owners’ proposal for a cap on players salaries and he remarked that he thought it was unfair for the owners to blame the financial problems caused by their own mismanagement on the players.

This effectively cut the ground out from the owners’ key negotiating position, and although Ueberroth backed them on some of their other positions, he thereby had sent a key signal to the union that it could effectively hold firm against the one-owner proposal that it hated the most--the salary cap.

In short, well before the strike crisis of this week, Ueberroth had established certain conditions that led to the owners’ willingness to compromise. Quite simply, they feared that if they did not, they would be forced to do so later under more severe circumstances.

At the same time, Ueberroth was building strong public support for his own position by appearing on numerous television shows to vocally support the opposition most fans felt toward a strike and to proclaim that he was going to support neither the owners’ nor the players’ positions but would be the fans’ commissioner.

In today’s edition of the New York Times, columnist Ira Berkow remarks that Ueberroth has emerged from the situation with a “polished image.” He notes that most of the serious proposals that Ueberroth made last week for a settlement have been accepted, and he adds:

“Ueberroth all along has said that the fans were his major concern, and that he would act in their benefit above all others--theirs and the game of baseball. At this point it seems that there is considerable substance behind those glossy remarks.”

In Los Angeles, one Olympic associate who actually had been a Ueberroth critic on the Olympic Committee’s board of directors, gave Ueberroth a mark of 95 out of a possible 100 Wednesday for his handling of the strike.

He said the only thing that surprised him was that the commissioner had not stopped the strike before it got started rather than waiting a day, especially since he had said in a speech at Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 28 that he would not allow a strike.

Actually, according to what Ueberroth has confessed privately, there was a reason even for this delay. The commissioner said that on Tuesday, as the owner and union representatives bargained hour after hour, he had been under the impression that they would come to a settlement without a strike.

But once it came to a strike, he said that he would act within 15 hours if there was no resolution at the bargaining table.

Actually, Ueberroth did not need to act. On the stroke of the 15th hour, he walked into the negotiating session and accepted a settlement that had just been reached by MacPhail and union leader Donald Fehr.

COMPROMISES THAT LED TO THE SETTLEMENT

PENSION PLAN

OWNERS -- Offered an increase in their $15.5 million per year contribution to the players’ pension fund to $25 million per year.

PLAYERS -- Wanted one-third of national television package, which would have amounted to $60 million per year, later reduced to $40 million.

SETTLEMENT -- An average contribution of $32.6 million over the five years of the contract, starting with $26 million this year and escalating to $37 million in the final year.

SALARY ARBITRATION

OWNERS -- No arbitration for players with fewer than three years of major league service, and an arbitrator would not be allowed to award a player more than double his previous salary.

PLAYERS -- Wanted arbitration process to remain the same: A player would be eligible after two years and no limit on awards.

SETTLEMENT -- No cap on salary arbitration awards. An increase in eligibility for arbitration from two years’ major league service to three, but the increase would not take effect during the first two years of the contract.

FREE AGENTS

OWNERS -- Sought to end re-entry draft and to have professional compensation replaced by amateur draft choices.

PLAYERS -- Sought the abolition of the re-entry draft.

SETTLEMENT -- The end of the re-entry draft and the end of professional player compensation for teams losing free agents. Compensation will now be in the form of amateur draft picks.