Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990                   TAG: 9003133601
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUSH WON'T INTERVENE IN BASEBALL; PLAYERS SEEK $51 MILLION PAYMENT

"I'm a ball fan and I want to go to the opening game someplace," the president told a news conference.

He again said, however, that he would not intervene to settle the labor dispute.

Bush, like everyone else, apparently will have to wait beyond the scheduled Opening Day - April 2 - to see his first game this year.

When Commissioner Fay Vincent meets with the league presidents today, it will not concern how to save Opening Day but how to postpone it.

Monday was the unofficial deadline both sides had set for having players in spring training camps in order to start the baseball season as scheduled.

But there were no negotiations on the contract stalemate Monday, and no new ideas on how to get the talks going.

Likely to be discussed at the commissioner's meeting is how to deal with games that will be called off because of the dispute, and the likelihood that the season will be less than 162 games for each club.

Today is the 27th day of the lockout and no negotiations are scheduled as the sides remain deadlocked on salary arbitration eligibility.

Owners negotiator Chuck O'Connor said he had a telephone conversation with union head Donald Fehr on Monday, but had no idea when formal negotiations would resume.

"When one side or the other comes up with an idea that is worth discussing," O'Connor said of plans for a meeting. "I can't sit here and negotiate with myself. The proposal has to start at Third Avenue," headquarters of the players association.

With the likely postponement of opening day, O'Connor said there are issues that will complicate matters even further.

"The question of how long spring training will be, how long the season will be," O'Conner said. "We will have to go back to work an agreement that will prorate contracts."

Owners will also have to start dealing with the sticky matter of returning television money and refunding tickets.

To complicate matters, the union has filed a request with arbitrator George Nicolau that owners pay $51.6 million in what the union says are the minimum damages from the first two collusion cases.

The money covered in the union's motion before Nicolau is for 1987 and 1988 damages from the 1985 and 1986 collusion cases. Arbitrator Thomas Roberts previously awarded the union $10.5 million for 1986 damages.

"We think it's entirely inappropriate and improper for them to hold money they admit belongs to the players," Fehr said. "They have acknowledged it is a minimum $51.6 million and it may be three times that amount."

O'Connor said the clubs had not yet decided how to respond to the motion, which is scheduled to be heard Wednesday.

Vincent said he had spoken with general managers and "they simply can't believe...we can't find a way to find a resolution to this."

Fehr and O'Connor indicated both sides are ready to dig in for a long haul.

An out-of-town writer asked if he should come to New York for resumption of the negotiations. "Stay home," O'Connor suyggested.