Fehr Says Strike Is Probable : Baseball: Negotiator for players says he believes many owners would welcome a work stoppage.

The Major League Players Assn.’s executive board delayed a decision on whether to strike, but Executive Director Don Fehr said Thursday he is skeptical that the baseball season will be completed without a work stoppage.

“I’m not confident we can do that, because history suggests it doesn’t work that way,” Fehr said. “The owners never take the players seriously.

“This atmosphere reminds me much more of 1981 than it does any year I’ve ever been involved, and in 1981, the owners couldn’t wait for the players to strike.

“Contrary to the rhetoric that is coming out of the negotiations, there seems to be a rather large number of owners who would welcome a strike. That’s just bizarre. I can’t define it any more than that. I hope I’m wrong, but that’s what it seems.”

Fehr met for three hours at an airport hotel with 55 players representing all 28 teams, including 15 Angels, who are in town to play the Chicago White Sox.

He spent most of the session discussing the 28-page proposal the owners gave the union Tuesday. The owners, contending they need to eliminate the disparity between large- and small-market teams, would give players a 50-50 split of revenue in exchange for the union agreeing to a salary cap.

“We have never seen a cap talked up by anyone that would do anything but lower players’ salaries,” Fehr said. “There is little in the NBA or NFL which would suggest we ought to follow that motto. One group who has the most experience with it--the so-called tremendous shining example--is basketball. And the basketball players can’t wait to get rid of the cap.

“Essentially what it’s done is line owners’ pockets at the expense of (the players’) fair-market value.”

Said pitcher Mark Langston, Angel player-representative: “The salary cap is not going to work at all. I’m very discouraged.”

Yet, Fehr’s primary complaint about the proposal is that it took 18 months to prepare, and one day after it was presented to the union, the owners’ negotiator, Richard Ravitch, predicted a player strike.

Said Larry Andersen, the Philadelphia Phillies’ player-representative: “The day after they hand us a proposal, Dick Ravitch says we’re going to go on strike, so what does that tell you about the proposal? We didn’t even meet until today, and already he knows we’re going on strike.”

Fehr and the executive council plan to submit a counterproposal to the owners by the end of this month. If there is no progress in negotiations, several players said that a strike date could be set at any time, and certainly by July 11, when they will reconvene in Pittsburgh during the All-Star break.

“We had some guys who talked about doing it now, but it could happen tomorrow,” White Sox catcher Mike LaValliere said. “We’re united on this thing.”

Said Andersen: “The unfortunate part of this whole thing is that people are going to sit back and say, ‘These guys are a bunch of greedy jerks.’ I wish they knew the whole story.”