BASEBALL WATCH : Wanted: A Firm Hand

Major league baseball is back. And although opening day offered a comfortable feeling, we, like many other fans disillusioned by an eight-month-long players’ strike, are tempted to wish a pox on both the players union and the team owners.

How long will baseball be around this season? The labor problems that rained out the 1994 season still cloud the future of the game. Not only are the issues that led to the strike still unresolved but somewhat forgotten amid the delayed but welcome start of the 1995 season is the fact that big league umpires remain on strike.

The hapless replacement players are back in the minors, driving trucks or working behind desks. But they could return if the players union and the owners cannot come to an agreement on the complex financial issues that still divide them. So there is no guarantee that another strike or lockout wouldn’t short-circuit the season.

The labor issues must be negotiated between the two sides, of course, but it would help if baseball had a strong, independent commissioner--such as Fay Vincent, whom the owners forced out nearly two years ago. A strong third party in the negotiations would help prod the owners and the players to resolve their differences, as Vincent did in 1990 when labor issues were threatening to end in a strike.

There can be no joy in Mudville--or Dodger Stadium, Anaheim Stadium or anywhere else for that matter--until baseball settles its financial mess. And that’s far less likely without a real commissioner.