Agreement Is Reached by Umpires : Contract: They will receive more money, but the major leagues now will choose top crews.

The Major League Umpires Assn. averted a prolonged work stoppage Monday by agreeing to a four-year contract that gives the union significant financial gains but returns control of umpire selection for baseball’s top events to the American and National leagues.

Amateur umpires, brought in to work Saturday and Sunday exhibitions after a walkout by the major league umpires in response to a breakdown in negotiations, officiated at seven of Monday’s eight season-opening games because the agreement wasn’t finalized until late Monday morning.

Major league umpires worked only Monday night’s game between the Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers but are expected to work all nine games on today’s schedule.

Monday marked the first time since a 1979 work stoppage--one of six in the last 21 years--that the umpires missed regular-season games.

Richie Phillips, the union counsel, said he thought it improbable after the breakdown Saturday morning that a long strike could be averted, but said Monday, “We finally got where we had to be, to the point where we could be comfortable.”

It reportedly happened only after Phillips threw a chair across the conference room, sending negotiators on both sides ducking and gouging a gaping hole in the wall.

The talks resumed Sunday night, with Commissioner Fay Vincent and American and National league presidents Bobby Brown and Bill White joining their chief negotiator, attorney Robert Kheel.

Vincent said money was the biggest issue but acknowledged that management was determined to regain a measure of control through a system that rewards “performance and hard work.”

He alluded to the return of a rating system that will allow the leagues to select umpires for the All-Star game, playoffs and World Series on merit as opposed to the rotation concept of the previous agreement.

It was widely believed that the rotation system contributed to the union’s growing sense of autonomy, diminishing the authority of the leagues and the performance level of the umpires.

“The leagues have had significant control, but this gives them more, and they’re pleased about that,” negotiator Kheel said, adding that the leagues will control the composition of each crew.

Under the agreement:

--The minimum salary of $41,000 goes to $60,000, and the maximum of $105,000 goes to $150,000 for 20-year umpires and to $175,000 for those with 25 years of service.

The top-salaried umpires will be Doug Harvey and Harry Wendelstedt of the National League at $201,000, based on $175,000 in salary, $20,000 from the postseason pool--up from $13,333 per umpire--and $6,000 for being crew chiefs, up from $4,000.

--Although the leagues rejected a union proposal that a fifth umpire be included on all crews to provide for a rotating day off every fifth day, the umpires will get a third week of vacation each summer.

--There will be an increase in daily expense money for hotels and meals from $169 to $185, along with increases in medical benefits, insurance coverage and pension contribution.

--The postseason pool, shared equally by the umpires, will increase from $800,000 to $1.2 million.

Phillips said the financial gains are not commensurate with recent increases in player salaries, but added, “We realize the players are considered to be in a different category, so we have to be satisfied with the results.”