Union Salutes Anderson : Baseball: Officials meet in Phoenix with 265 striking players.

Officials of the baseball players’ union saluted Detroit Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson on Saturday for his refusal to work with replacement players and, in the words of associate general counsel Eugene Orza, predicted the concept would be “an abject failure and detriment to the sport whether there are other Sparky Andersons or not.”

After meeting with 265 striking players here in another show of union solidarity, Orza said the owners were merely attempting to scare and divide the players by using replacements.

“It’s an ill-conceived strategy, but I can’t persuade them otherwise,” Orza said of the owners. “No one can. (Union leader) Don Fehr could bring in 100 monsignors, clerics and rabbis and they still wouldn’t be persuaded. They’re going to have to see it for themselves, and I hope they do. I predict that two or three years down the road they’ll acknowledge how ashamed they are for having tried it.”

Orza called Anderson’s decision “very important symbolically” but wasn’t sure other managers and coaches would follow because few have “the leverage and security” of his Hall of Fame career. Orza said it is not a move the union is asking or urging managers and coaches to make. Arizona-based managers, coaches and trainers met with union officials after Saturday’s five-hour meeting with players and agents.

Oakland Athletic Manager Tony La Russa, who attended the meeting, said he disagreed with Anderson’s thinking, pointing out that replacement baseball is better than no baseball, that to leave would be to endorse the union position entirely and that “the fact is, I believe both sides need to compromise, that a new system is in the best interests of players, owners and fans.”

La Russa’s striking first baseman, Mark McGwire, conceded that Anderson’s decision “really helped the union” and insisted that “I know that a lot of managers and coaches feel the same way Sparky does.”

Added Fehr: “Sparky made the right and courageous move and my guess is that it sent a message that has a lot of people thinking.”

Anderson’s decision dominated conversation Saturday, but there were also these developments:

--Union sources said negotiations will probably resume Tuesday or Wednesday, but there is still little optimism the settlement suggestions made by special mediator William J. Usery will spark meaningful talks.

--Striking players will not walk a picket line during spring training or the season, largely because of security reasons, Orza said, but there may be union-associated pickets at stadium delivery points, although not at fan or employee gates.