Strike Notes : Settlement Pleases Fans, Disappoints the Entrepreneurs

Public reaction Wednesday to the end of the brief baseball strike ran the gamut from excitement to indifference.

“That’s good. I think that’s real good,” Winston Williams of Boston said of the settlement. “We need to watch something sensible on TV once in a while. And sports is the only way to go.”

Jack Benfanti of Fairfield, Conn., had a different reaction. “I think fans are getting a little disgusted with this nonsense,” he said. “I don’t even go to ballgames anymore. I used to be a big fan. It’s not sports anymore, it’s big business.”

Many of the fans seemed to place most of the blame on the players.

“The players owe it to the fans to end the strike,” Thomas McMichael of Detroit said. “I feel the fans are the number one priority, paying their salaries. If they prolonged it any longer, it would kill the season.”

David Sides of Roseville, Minn., said: “What really upset me was the fact the players wanted more money. The main issue was pension, right? You’d think anyone who who makes $350,000 a year could take care of their own pension.”

Mike Davis of Boston hoped the players got nothing.

Another viewpoint was expressed by Skip McCormack of Boston. “I was afraid if they didn’t settle it quickly that there would be an atmosphere among the owners, that ‘we can do to the baseball union what (President) Reagan did to the air traffic controllers,’ ” he said.

And Ailine Hunt, a retired nurse from Van Nuys, just wants to “see Pedro (Guerrero) keep getting his hits. I thought both management and the players were at fault.”

Owners of compact cars in Saugus, Mass., can quit worrying about having them tipped over by irate baseball fans.

At least four vehicles were tipped onto their sides Tuesday, and a group of fans phoned police and told them they would turn over nine a day--one for each inning--until the strike ended.

Police said they could do little to track the irate fans. “We’re just glad it ended,” an officer said.

A company in Cleveland that supplies peanuts to major league ballparks called back eight employees it had laid off when the baseball strike began Tuesday.

The Peterson Nut Co., which roasts and packages peanuts for 11 baseball stadiums, felt the crunch when orders began to drop late last week.

The company employs 170 workers, and ballpark sales provide about 10% of its business.

Mike Ross, director of F.A.N.S., a consumer group for sports fans protection, believes that baseball fans are partially responsible for the settlement of the strike.

“I’m overjoyed. I think the fans deserve a lot of credit,” Ross said. “We gave the owners and players a statement that we were not going to sit by idly and watch the sport we love die.

“My only regret is that we were taken off guard and did not have enough time to organize such things as empty seat night for Thursday’s games.”

A city councilman who spearheaded a lawsuit against the Reds by the city of Cincinnati over the 1981 major league baseball strike is upset again.

Cincinnati was the only city to sue. Former Mayor David Mann tried to collect $1.3 million in lost revenues from the Reds. The city twice lost the suit in court and finally, last February, dropped its appeal.

“When will we ever learn?” Mann asked. “Obviously, there’s a tremendous economic impact on the community. In view of what happened last time, we can’t do anything about it.

“It has a direct impact on the city and its financial situation and an indirect impact on the city with an impact on restaurants and hotels. It’s a tremendous blow to absorb in the summertime.”

The city estimated that with each day of a strike it loses $32,000 and local merchants lose $333,000.

An angry Angel fan has formed Baseball Fans United, an organization he hopes will come together from every state to help prevent future strikes.

Anaheim businessman Michael Nason said he is calling on fans across the country to join his group. “The fans are always the ones who end up being shoved aside in these strikes,” he said. “There’s not the same consideration for the fans as back in the early Yankee-Dodger days back East. I’m tired of the ups and downs of today’s baseball.”

Toronto Blue Jay fans exchanged bitterness for joy when they learned that the strike had been settled.

“The fans are raring to go,” said Paul Godfrey, a politician who was a prime force in bringing the team to Toronto. “We feel that with a nine-game lead we are headed for a pennant and the World Series.

“For the last 36 hours I’ve been walking around in great pain, already suffering withdrawal symptoms.”

The potential loss of the season had sparked bitterness among fans who watched as the team battled from its first game in 1977 to finally become, not only a contender, but the division leader with the biggest margin.