Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502090088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Rejecting President Clinton's call for Congress to ``step up to the plate'' and save the 1995 big-league season, the leaders said they would not require the feuding owners and players to submit to binding arbitration.
The unwillingness of Congress to intercede left the outlook bleaker than ever for baseball-starved fans who eagerly looked forward to a season with real major leaguers - not replacement players - on the field.
The Clinton administration sent to Congress a measure that would authorize the president to appoint a panel of three neutral arbitrators with the power to dictate a settlement to the baseball strike.
``If we want a 1995 baseball season, this may be the last resort,'' Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who cheers for the Boston Red Sox, told reporters.
But prospects for a vote in either the House or Senate appeared remote.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, an Atlanta Braves fan who confessed that he misses Braves games, said it would be ``a very bad idea'' for Congress to order binding arbitration.
Worried about the precedent that congressional intervention might set, Gingrich asked: ``If you start talking about settling industry by industry, how many industries deserve our interference?''
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas and other Republicans said much the same thing.
Congress simply shouldn't get mixed up in ``a clash between the super-rich and the megarich,'' exclaimed Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a Chicago Cubs fan.
Many Democrats disagreed. Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., labeled Gingrich and Dole ``the Sultans of Not,'' a reference to slugger Babe Ruth's fame as ``the Sultan of Swat.''
``The fate of baseball is in the hands of Newt and Bob,'' jabbed Schumer, a Yankees and Mets fan, ``but their response is to sit on the bench.''
Although Clinton has appealed to baseball fans to urge Congress to act, public support for Clinton's position has been minimal so far, members of Congress reported.
Clinton's request for binding arbitration followed a five-hour meeting at the White House Tuesday night with players, owners, special mediator Bill Usery and administration officials. Clinton had hoped the two sides would voluntarily agree to binding arbitration, but the owners refused.
No talks between players and owners are scheduled.
While the union sought binding arbitration, it was the union that rejected Usery's proposal for a 50 percent luxury tax on the portion of payrolls above $40 million, above $700,000 below the 1994 average. Salary arbitration would be eliminated by 1997, and the salaries of players with three to four years would drop drastically.
by CNB