Fehr Calls Out Selig to Endorse New Deal

Donald Fehr, executive director of the players union, confirmed Saturday night that he has reached agreement with management negotiator Randy Levine on a five-year bargaining contract but expressed exasperation with acting Commissioner Bud Selig for failing to acknowledge it and endorse it.

“The deal has been reached,” Fehr said at Yankee Stadium before Game 6 of the World Series. “Bud just has to decide if he wants it or if he doesn’t want it. If he doesn’t want it he should let someone know.

“I mean, we had been waiting since Aug. 12 for Randy to receive permission from Bud to finish [the deal that had been negotiated to virtual completion on the Aug. 9-11 weekend]. He got that permission Wednesday night, we finished it Thursday in Atlanta, but Bud hasn’t responded to my attempts to reach him.

“He should walk in here tonight, acknowledge the deal is done, announce he endorses it and is calling an owners’ meeting to approve it.

“The players ratified it [in a club by club vote late in September] a long time ago.”

Typical of the disagreements that have characterized the three-year labor battle, Selig responded to Fehr’s comments by saying he would call an owners’ meeting very soon--seemingly an admission that the deal was done. However, he seemed to contradict himself when asked if that is fact.

“We’re still at a stage of heavy negotiations and nothing more,” Selig said. “From my perspective I can only tell you how I see it.”

However, he then said:

“Obviously, from Randy’s standpoint, we’re at a point where he’s done as much as he can do.”

Levine agreed and tried to correct Selig’s conflicting statements.

“Don and I have concluded negotiations, but there’s no reason to announce a deal until it’s ratified,” he said. “The process is ongoing.

“My next step is to brief the clubs, and Bud has said he’ll call a meeting very soon. There is no reason to read anything negative into anything he said.”

The labor agreement requires ratification by 21 of the 28 owners. Selig has said publicly he will leave it up to the respective clubs.

Whether he will take a different stance in the meeting, taking on Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and other opponents of the deal is uncertain.

It is believed he can generate the required votes if he voices support.

Selig was in constant contact with Levine during the final process in Atlanta.

The Fine Print

Details of the pivotal issues:

--Players will be credited with service time for the 75 regular-season days they were on strike in 1994-95, but a club losing a free agent through that process will receive a compensatory selection in the amateur draft.

--The union will retain an option on a second, tax-free year at the end of the agreement, but will pay a heavier price for exercising that option--an increase in the previously negotiated percentage of receipts that would go to the owners from the division series.