Appearing on ESPN's "Up Close," Phillies CF Lenny Dykstra
said that he and 20 other stars would meet some time in the next
week to discuss how to end the strike. "It was as close as any
baseball player has come to open mutiny with the players union,"
according to Frank Fitzpatrick and Jayson Stark in this morning's
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. The INQUIRER piece was front-page, above
the fold. Dykstra, who characterized Special Mediator William
Usery's recommendations for a settlement as "fair": "The players
have to rethink our position, what's best for us. ... We're
running out of time. We tried to let them get it worked out and
it hasn't happened. It's time to really break it down and call a
spade a spade." Dykstra said that the next step would be to go
to New York and meet with the union's executive committee
(PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 2/10).
REAX: MLBPA Exec Dir Donald Fehr "shrugged off" Dykstra's
comments: "I'm sure there's a lot of confusion from players out
there over what happened in Washington because of the way clubs
circulated Bill Usery's recommendations. ... I'm confident that
when players like Lenny have a chance to find out precisely what
happened, this is not going to be a big problem" (Fitzpatrick &
Stark, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 2/10). Dykstra committed "the
union equivalent of heresy when he said that the owners deserved
a few breaks" (Peter Schmuck, Baltimore SUN, 2/10). I.J.
Rosenberg in Atlanta: "The solid armor of the baseball players'
union developed a crack Thursday." Braves Player Rep Tom Glavine
described Dykstra as "someone who hasn't been at any of our
meetings and really doesn't understand the proposal" (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 2/10). Giants GM Bob Quinn: "If you took a secret
vote among the rank and file, I'm willing to bet the majority
would vote to come back and play right now" (SAN JOSE MERCURY
NEWS, 2/10).
