Umpires Abandon Boycott

Major league umpires backed off their threat to boycott postseason games over the Roberto Alomar spitting incident and worked as scheduled Tuesday.

The umpires and major league baseball worked out an agreement in federal court in Philadelphia that calls for the umpires to work games through Thursday.

The umpires had voted Monday to boycott the games because of what they viewed as light punishment for Alomar, who spat in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck after a first-inning ejection last Friday in Toronto.

Alomar was suspended for five days, but Gene Budig, American League president, had not planned to hear Alomar’s appeal of the suspension until after the World Series. Under major league rules, a player’s suspension cannot begin until after his appeals hearing.

As part of the agreement reached in the courtroom of Judge Edmund Ludwig, Budig will hold a suspension hearing for Alomar on Thursday. The umpires said they will work the rest of the postseason games if the appeal is decided on Thursday.

“I think they are satisfied that they are getting a hearing, whatever the hearing consists of,” said Marty Springstead, director of American League umpires.

However, that agreement violates the collective bargaining agreement between players and owners. Players have seven days to formally appeal a suspension. The players’ association had not been formally notified of Alomar’s suspension until Tuesday.

“I don’t want to talk about it, OK?” Alomar said after the Orioles’ 10-4 victory over Cleveland on Tuesday at Camden Yards.

His teammate, right fielder Bobby Bonilla, said, “I think there’s a misbelief that he doesn’t have a heart and doesn’t care. He’s very apologetic. He’s extremely sorry.”

Monday, the Oriole second baseman issued an apology to Hirschbeck and his family for the spitting incident and also for comments he made about the umpire’s demeanor since the death of his young son to a rare disease. Alomar had said Hirschbeck seemed bitter since his son’s death.

Alomar also pledged a $50,000 contribution to Johns Hopkins University and the Kennedy Kreiger Institute, which are researching the disease known as ALD.

Asked if he was satisfied by the apology, Tuesday’s home plate umpire Drew Coble said, “I haven’t seen it yet.”

Said Springstead, “It’s a very nice gesture, a very humble gesture. I’m not speaking for the umpires, I’m speaking for myself.”

The six umpires working Game 1 of the Oriole-Indian series--Coble, Greg Kosc, Tim Tschida, Tim Welke, John Shulock and Ted Hendry--walked onto the field to a smattering of boos, but those were quickly drowned out by sustained applause.

Alomar received a mixed greeting from the Camden Yards crowd of 47,644. There were plenty of boos heard amid the cheers.

Springstead said he learned that the regular umpires would work the game “about 20 minutes until 1 [p.m. EDT].” They arrived about 10 minutes before the scheduled first pitch and the game was delayed about 20 minutes. To accommodate television, the San Diego-St. Louis National League playoff game also was delayed.

And the last of Tuesday’s three games--Texas at New York--was also delayed when umpires’ union head Richie Phillips kept the umpires in their locker room until a site was set for Thursday’s hearing.

Phillips said the official notification of the meeting had not arrived until 8:08 p.m. EDT, one minute after the scheduled start of the Rangers-Yankees game and six hours after he had expected it. The game finally began after a 10-minute delay with the regular umpires on the field.

Replacement umpires were hunkered down in an undisclosed room at the stadium while the regular umpires awaited word from their attorney.

“They were here and dressed,” Springstead said of the replacements. “I can’t tell you who they were, but I can tell you how we got them. We got them from a pool of umpires we used in the 1995 [umpire] lockout from the surrounding area. When I say surrounding area, I mean Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.”

Cleveland General Manager John Hart, holding court with reporters outside the Indians’ clubhouse before the game, was asked if this was just another dark day for baseball.

“After a great season and great pennant races, here we are going to court an hour before the playoffs begin,” Hart said.

“This certainly couldn’t be a positive.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.