BASEBALL ‘94: GOING, GOING . . . GONE : Voices

“There cannot be any joy on any side.”

--BUD SELIG, acting baseball commissioner

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“What people will remember is that it ended in this fashion with Bud (Selig) gnashing his teeth at a news conference.”

--DONALD FEHR, director of the players union

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“Hopefully we can work something out, whether it’s a (salary) cap or a tax or a widget.”

--RICHARD RAVITCH, owners’ chief negotiator, on trying to save the 1995 season

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“Baseball games are won and lost because of errors--and this will go down as the biggest ‘E’ of all. 1994--the season that struck itself out.”

--PETER UEBERROTH, former baseball commissioner

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“There are going to be fans that are not going to come back. And we can’t get them back. In a certain way, I can’t blame them. To me it’s probably the darkest day I know in baseball, when you say there’s not going to be a World Series.”

--RENE LACHEMANN, Florida Marlin manager

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“We’ve had two World Wars, a Depression, assassinations of several world figures, but it only took greed by the owners and players to shut down the national pastime.”

--MARK TUERFFS, Yorba Linda owner of a food-and-beverage flavoring company

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“I think they’d come out in droves and say, ‘Let’s see the real players instead of the million-dollar babies.’ I think they would see how good these minor league players are compared to some of the players in the majors.”

--MARGE SCHOTT, owner of the Cincinnati Reds on holding a World Series with minor league players

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“Sooner or later they have to talk to us. If no one is playing next spring, they’ve got a problem. Sure, some players on a lower scale might play. But not anyone the fans pay to see.”

--ANDY BENES, San Diego Padre pitcher

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“It just goes to show that we humans who are placed in charge of this great game, the caretakers of this great game, have fouled up substantially.”

--JOHN SCHUERHOLZ, Atlanta Brave general manager

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“We’re sitting here watching paint dry.”

--SCOTT SAKLAD, manager of a souvenir shop across from Fenway Park

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“Now is not the time for wild accusations. Do it as business people and not from anger. It’s up to all of us now to handle this thing with dignity. This is a chance to show how much class we have, how we handle this.”

--SPARKY ANDERSON, Detroit Tiger manager

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“Maybe this will be the (strike) that finally ticks them off, but as much as fans whine and complain, when baseball comes back, they’ll be out there.”

--JASON POMMIER, Cal State Fullerton student

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“It’s hard to jump on the owners’ bandwagon, but I bet 80% of average Joes are on the owners’ side because they can’t imagine why players complain when they’re getting astronomical salaries. Where was Alan Trammel when the Detroit owner was flipping pizzas? It’s their business, man. If any of us went to our employer and gave a song and dance about wanting more money, more liberty, what would happen to us? We’d be looking for another job.”

--GEORGE STUBBLEFIELD, Yorba Linda area sales manager