In a gesture to one of its stellar members, the Major League Baseball Players Association has advised Cal Ripken of the Orioles it might not object if he resumed his quest for baseball's all-time consecutive game streak while other major leaguers were on strike.
But Mr. Ripken has flatly refused to consider the possibility.
Mark Belanger, a special assistant to players' union chief Donald Fehr, said he approached Mr. Ripken with the idea at a union meeting in New York last October.
"I pulled him [Ripken] aside and said, 'By the way, if you would like, we can talk to the players and see how they would feel if you decided you want to play. You're an unusual circumstance.'
"But Cal said, 'Don't bother. I'm not going anywhere. I didn't get into the game for a streak, and I'm not going to cross any line.' "
Neither Mr. Ripken nor his agent, Ron Shapiro, could be reached for comment today.
Mr. Belanger, himself a former Oriole shortstop, said that union officials consider Mr. Ripken a special case because of the streak. He needs only 122 to break New York Yankee Lou Gehrig's all-time record of 2,130 straight games, a plateau Mr. Ripken would reach next August, assuming he remained healthy.
But the streak could be snuffed out if baseball owners and players don't change the direction of their talks and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement by Opening Day.
Those prospects, which have seemed slim recently, dimmed further last week when baseball owners made good on their threat to implement their salary-cap proposal.
Several owners have said they plan to open spring training camps on schedule and to begin the regular season with replacement players, if necessary. Mr. Ripken's streak would be a casualty of such a plan, which is opposed by several owners, including Oriole owner Peter Angelos. At a recent major league meeting, he vowed not to field a replacement team.
Mr. Belanger said union officials think Ripken should have a voice in deciding what happens to the streak.
"We are talking history," he said. "There is no question in our mind that this situation has been planned by the owners. It's mind-boggling to have something like this happen because these guys don't care. It's almost like they're saying to Cal, 'We don't care about anybody.' "
Mr. Belanger said he and Mr. Fehr talked about Mr. Ripken's situation and decided the player should be consulted. If he had expressed interest in playing, the issue would have been brought up to other members of the players union.
But that never happened, Mr. Belanger said, because Mr. Ripken was vehement in rejecting any talk of playing during a strike. Mr. Belanger said he has not had another conversation with Mr. Ripken about the issue since.
But he added: "If Rip decided to [play], I would venture to say not one baseball player would ever say anything against it, because they know the significance of a record like this. God forbid he doesn't get hurt. He's going to break the record and it will never be broken again. It shouldn't be stopped by selfish people."
Houston pitcher Todd Jones told the Houston Post yesterday that he didn't think players would object to Mr. Ripken's playing while other major leaguers were on strike.
"This is no everyday record," Mr. Jones said. "This is a Halley's Comet-type thing he's going after. It's safe to say that none of the union members would hold it against him."