Baseball Owners Discuss Reinstating the Salary Cap

Major league baseball owners discussed reinstating the salary cap as their main labor thrust but failed to reach a conclusion during a six-hour meeting Wednesday at Itasca, Ill. They also refrained from setting a date for the resumption of bargaining talks with the players’ union.

However, sources among the owners and players confirmed that there have been secret talks aimed at settling unfair labor practice complaints against the owners and ensuring that the 1995 season will be played to completion.

That would appease fans--attendance is off 18% from last year’s final average--and advertisers concerned that the players could strike again, either before the All-Star game if owners fail to guarantee a pension payment from the receipts or the playoffs if it appears that owners plan to implement a new economic system unilaterally.

“I would view the talks as very preliminary,” union lawyer Michael Weiner said.

The secret discussions were prompted by a May 1 meeting of the sides and administrative law judge Edwin Bennett, who is scheduled to begin trying the unfair labor practice cases on May 22. Those cases stem from complaints issued by the National Labor Relations Board relating to the owners’ refusal to make a $7.8-million pension payment from last year’s All-Star receipts and their refusal to reinstate key provisions of the expired labor agreement after withdrawing the implemented salary-cap system to avoid NLRB sanctions on Feb. 6.

Management lawyers will appear before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York today to appeal a March 31 injunction that forced them to reinstate those provisions and led to the players ending their strike.

Jerry McMorris, owner of the Colorado Rockies, said most of Wednesday’s meeting was devoted to ideas for improving attendance, adding: “We know that getting the labor issue resolved is a large part of that.”

There have been no negotiations since March 30.

The owners plan to meet again June 6-8 in Minneapolis.