WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress are listening to their constituents about the baseball strike -- and the constituents are saying that America has bigger problems to solve than a dispute between overpaid players and super-rich owners.
Democratic and Republican senators lashed out at both sides during a subcommittee hearing yesterday on baseball's antitrust exemption. They vowed not to pass either of the two bills introduced Tuesday that partially repeal the 73-year-old exemption in an effort to end the six-month-old strike.
"You're not going to get any tears going down anybody's cheeks about the owners or the players," said Alan K. Simpson, a Wyoming Republican.
With a vote on the balanced budget occurring on the Senate floor, some senators, such as Joseph Biden, dropped in after the vote to vent their anger at the players and owners for wasting their time.
"People are angry. Neither one of you are very popular," said Biden, a Delaware Democrat. "You're getting into the category of those of us who hold public office."
The congressional message to both sides about settling the strike was clear: You're on your own.
"There is no remedy for you here, either side," Simpson said. "This is not a court of last resort."
That's bad news for the players, who apparently think that their only options are to negotiate a settlement or stay on strike. They do not have the legal right under federal antitrust laws to take the owners to court. Negotiating, however, is just fine with Donald Fehr.
"Many owners have fostered the myth that the players are not interested in negotiating," said Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. "The owners have walked out of the negotiations four separate times; the players have not."
It's good news for the owners because the threat of removing the exemption has been lifted, at least temporarily. Once the strike is settled, Simpson said he will fight to remove it. But for now, there is no threat of a union lawsuit. On Tuesday, the players said if they could go to court, they would go back to work under the old agreement.
Acting commissioner and Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig said three or four clubs would go bankrupt if they played the 1995 season under the old labor contract. He says the bargaining table is where he has wanted to settle this situation all along.
"I do hope we're back at the table," Selig told the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition. "We ought to be meeting here with [mediator] Bill Usery. He's invested four months of his life. That's the proper way to get this done."
There is little chance that the two sides will be negotiating anytime soon. Although Selig said he might talk with Usery while he's in Washington, Fehr is headed to Orlando today and Phoenix tomorrow to brief the players. Neither side said when the next meeting would occur.
The Congressional ire seems to have given the owners an upper hand. And it has Selig taking solace in the history books.
"I've been reading the Cellar hearings [by the 1951 House Judiciary Committee]," Selig said. "I have come to find that there has always been anger expressed."
While senators told Selig and Fehr they would not help end the strike, two Maryland representatives are trying to make sure that, if the strike ends, Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken will break Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record at Camden Yards.
Kweisi Mfume and Constance Morella wrote a letter to American League president Gene Budig insisting that he rearrange the schedule so Ripken could celebrate his record-breaking achievement at home. Ripken is scheduled to pass Gehrig on Aug. 18 in Oakland, Calif. The letter, which was signed by 61 other representatives, is a response to comments earlier this month by Athletics general manager Sandy Alderson that he will not help the Orioles reschedule the game.
Ripken's streak isn't the only numerical achievement affected by the strike. Former Orioles first baseman Eddie Murray needs 70 hits to reach 3,000 and 42 home runs to reach 500. A longtime union activist who plays with the Cleveland Indians, Murray testified at yesterday's hearing along with Kansas City Royals pitcher David Cone.