Officials Ready to Let Umpires Go

As umpires began what might be the final seven weeks of their baseball careers, management officials said they are prepared to let the men in blue resign en masse and replace them all.

And in an escalation of the conflict, officials of the Major League Umpires Assn. planned a conference call today with minor league umpires that could lead to a walkout by them.

Union head Richie Phillips said 220 of 228 minor league umpires had voted to form a union, with two abstaining, but management refused to negotiate with it. Union lawyer Pat Campbell said a walkout could “happen sooner rather than later.”

At some major league ballparks, including Yankee Stadium, The Ballpark in Arlington and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, umpires were booed when they took the field Thursday night.

Baseball officials said they are not inclined to challenge the umpires’ decision to quit over the tension that began when Roberto Alomar spat at an ump in 1996.

“It’s sad. It’s very, very sad,” Commissioner Bud Selig said. “I will have plenty to say in the future.”

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A union official in Milwaukee said that many workers thought winds were too strong just before the deadly collapse of a giant crane being used to build the Milwaukee Brewers’ baseball stadium.

Three workers were killed and five injured Wednesday when the 567-foot crane collapsed and essentially broke in half as it was lowering a piece of the stadium’s retractable roof in place. The three victims were in a basket suspended from a smaller crane inside the stadium. Winds were gusting to 26 mph at the time.

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The economic impact of the All-Star game was more of a windfall than tourism officials in Boston expected, according to early estimates. The unanticipated success of FanFest and evidence of higher-than-expected retail sales have officials at the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau predicting that spending may come closer to major league baseball’s estimate of $62 million. That’s well over their own prediction of $50 million to $54 million. . . . The Milwaukee Brewers are talking with Hideo Nomo about a contract extension. Nomo, who signed with the Brewers on May 2 after he was released by the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs, is 7-2 with a 3.95 earned-run average in 13 starts. . . . John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves, rehabilitating from an elbow injury, struck out four in two shutout innings in the Greenville Braves’ 6-1 Southern League loss to the Jacksonville Suns in the first game of a double-A doubleheader at Jacksonville, Fla.