Strike Date Could Be Set on Monday

Baseball’s union could set a strike date Monday when its executive board meets in Chicago to evaluate the progress of labor talks.

The board held a telephone conference call Tuesday to discuss negotiations, where slow-but-steady progress is being made. It also prepared a response today to the owners’ proposal for mandatory drug testing.

Players seem reluctant to set a deadline that could trigger baseball’s ninth work stoppage since 1972. But depending on negotiations the rest of this week, a strike date could be set at the Chicago meeting, according to two lawyers familiar with the union’s deliberations, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“It’s hard for me to believe that we’re going to get anything done without having a deadline,” National League player representative Tom Glavine said. “It’s almost like the threat of a strike date has kind of become the deadline of this thing. If that spurs things on, great.”

On the drug issue, it appears players will agree to some level of tests for steroids and performance-enhancing drugs.

Glavine said players want to prove “our sport is clean and if it’s not, we’ll do something to clean it up.”

Baseball has been without a drug agreement since 1985. Owners have proposed testing all players three times a year for performance-enhancing drugs and once a year for illegal drugs such as cocaine and marijuana.

Negotiators for players and owners met twice Tuesday, spending most of their time discussing the owners’ proposals for debt regulation and new rules regarding the funding of deferred compensation.

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Cleveland completed the July 19 trade that sent pitcher Chuck Finley to St. Louis, acquiring switch-hitting outfielder Covelli Crisp from the Cardinals.

The Indians continued to shuffle players, sending pitcher Jaret Wright to the minors and recalling outfielder Karim Garcia.

Crisp, 22, was the Cardinals’ minor league player of the year in 2001. He was batting .301 with nine homers and 47 runs batted in at double-A New Haven.

Wright, 26, who has had two shoulder surgeries in the last three years, was 0-2 with a 16.62 earned-run average.

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Outfielder Todd Hollandsworth was put on the 15-day disabled list by Texas because of a strained left quadriceps.

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Former Cincinnati owner Marge Schott, 73, was released from Jewish Hospital, where she had been since Friday because of an undisclosed ailment.