Analysis : Decision on Hoyt Is Setback for Ueberroth

The law and order rule of baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth continues to run afoul of--well, the law.

This time it was Ueberroth’s attempt to suspend San Diego Padre pitcher LaMarr Hoyt for the entire 1987 season because of illegal possession of tranquilizers and pain killers. Hoyt was arrested twice in the last year and recently spent 38 days in a federal prison.

The Ueberroth edict has been reduced to a 60-day suspension that ended June 5. The decision was made by arbitrator George Nicolau in response to a grievance filed by the Major League Players Assn.

Nicolau also ruled that the Padres, who had given Hoyt his unconditional release Jan. 7 and insisted they were not responsible for the remaining three years and $3.2 million of his contract because he had breached the contract’s “good citizenship clause,” will have to honor that contract.

The Padres responded Wednesday by announcing that they will pay Hoyt, but do not intend to take him back. They have asked waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release.

Both sides indicated that the legal moves may not be over.

Gene Orza, legal counsel to the players’ association, said there was more at stake than the money, that the intent was to allow Hoyt to resume his career with the Padres and that they have violated the intent of the ruling by asking release waviers. He said he will speak to the club before considering a legal action.

Barry Rona, legal counsel to the owners’ Player Relations Committee, said that he found one aspect of the decision surprising and disquieting.

Rona cited the fact that Hoyt had contractually agreed to conduct himself as a “first-class citizen,” then engaged in “criminal activity.”

“The contract was breached,” Rona said. “The decision doesn’t jibe.”

There is no appeal in arbitration, but Rona said he could pursue civil litigation if it was felt Nicolau exceeded his authority and/or acted inconsistently in regard to the collective bargaining agreement or uniform player contract.

Rona said he would need time to study that possibility.

Hoyt was visiting relatives in South Carolina and unavailable for comment. Howard Frank, his San Diego attorney, said:

“I have to think he (Hoyt) was pleased with the result.

“All of this is really important, but what’s really important is that from a health standpoint he’s doing well.”

Ueberroth was also unavailable for comment.

The Hoyt decision was the latest arbitration setback on a major issue for the man who likes to say he is more pro-active than pro-litigious.

In other words, Ueberroth will take the steps he deems necessary--or publicly advantageous, perhaps--and then face the consequences of baseball law.

His unilateral attempt to establish a joint drug program was overthrown in arbitration. The attempt to include a drug-testing clause in all guaranteed contracts of more than one year met a similar fate. The bid of the player relations committee to allow free agents who had not signed with their original clubs by Jan. 8 to continue negotiations with those clubs rather than having to wait until May 1 also lost in arbitration.

Nothing attempted, nothing gained.

Still to come, of course, is a decision on the union grievance that charges the owners with collusion, the contention being that the owners, taking orders from Ueberroth, acted in concert to restrict the movement of free agents.

Though Ueberroth’s status with those owners is now tenuous because of his reported alliance with George Argyros in the latter’s aborted attempt to sell his Seattle Mariners and buy the Padres, and though Ueberroth’s credibility seems to have been scarred by the statement that baseball has won the war with drugs, any alteration in that image of an activist riding to the rescue would seem unlikely.

Where will it all ultimately take Ueberroth? That remains unclear. Rona, however, doesn’t believe the Hoyt ruling represented a setback.

He said that by allowing even a 60-day suspension the arbitrator had reaffirmed:

1--The commissioner’s authority.

2--The commissioner’s guidelines for the re-entry of a disciplined player.