"The longest and costliest work stoppage in professional
sports history is over," writes Ross Newhan in this morning's
L.A. TIMES.  Last night, acting MLB Commissioner Bud Selig
announced that the owners would accept the players'
"unconditional offer" to return to work.  But, there is still no
agreement, "no hint of a settlement and no guarantee the players
won't strike again in August.  There is also no assurance the
owners won't attempt to declare another impasse -- the injunction
order requires court approval -- and implement a new economic
system anchored to a high-rate payroll tax" (L.A. TIMES, 4/3).
     NO NO-STRIKE PLEDGE:  In a Saturday meeting, the owners'
lawyers "asked about the idea of a no-strike, no-lockout
agreement but did not request a pledge."  Management lawyers were
concerned that placing "such a condition on an acceptance of an
unconditional offer to return to work" (Murray Chass, N.Y. TIMES,
4/3).  Selig "said it will be up to the owners' bargaining
committee to speak to the union about a no-strike pledge," but
Orioles Owner Peter Angelos believes there is "sentiment on both
sides" for the union to do so in return for the owners agreeing
not to implement their system (Mark Maske, WASHINGTON POST, 4/3).
MLBPA Exec Dir Don Fehr appeared on NBC's "Today" and was asked
about the lack of a no-strike pledge and what would prevent a
repeat:  "We've just lived through it.  It's no longer imaginary.
No one can say to themselves anymore that if we do this it will
last two weeks, or the players will fold or everybody will cross.
We know what it can mean and that ought to put a real breath of
cold air on it" (NBC, 4/3).
     THE LOCKOUT NON-VOTE:  ESPN's Peter Gammons said there were
15 or 16 owners who wanted a lockout, but they were "terrified"
by the possibility of financial losses.  Gammons: "I found it
very interesting the way they never took a vote and they never
said they wouldn't lock out.  They are still holding that hammer"
("SportsCenter," 4/2).
     BACK TO THE TABLE:  CNN's Bob Lorenz notes that Selig "would
not say whether the owners would keep that (their latest) offer
on the table" ("Sports Tonight," CNN, 4/2).  One NL owner:  "When
we resume negotiations, we're going to start all over again.  No
more of this luxury tax stuff.  We're going to ask for a salary
cap."  The same owner, on Fehr's belief that negotiations will
resume soon:  "Who's he kidding?  We just lost our shirt.  Right
now we've got nothing to gain" (Jerome Holtzman, CHICAGO TRIBUNE,
4/2).
     TAKE A NUMBER:  Forgotten throughout the recent players
dispute is the fact that MLB's umpires are locked out.  The MLBPA
is seeking a 60% pay raise over a four-year proposal.  They
recently withdrew an unfair labor practices charge against MLB,
but "it's possible the umpires may consider refiling those
charges."  In Baltimore, Peter Schmuck reports, "Barring hard and
successful negotiations in the next three weeks, the already
tainted 1995 season will start with replacement umpires"
(Baltimore SUN, 4/3).

     ABC'S ARMEN KETEYIAN:  "While it may only take a few weeks
to get the contracts signed and players back on the field, it may
take much longer to repair the damage done to baseball's image"
("World News Tonight," ABC, 4/2).
     AGENT RON SHAPIRO:  "While there is a lot of insanity in the
game, all the parties realize that the worst thing that can
happen is that there will be a strike during the season" (Ken
Rosenthal, Baltimore SUN, 4/3).
     BALTIMORE SUN'S KEN ROSENTHAL:  "Get an agreement -- a long,
sensible, fair agreement -- then talk about reviving the national
pastime" (Baltimore SUN, 4/3).
     BALTIMORE SUN'S PETER SCHMUCK picks Winners:  Fehr, Angelos,
Sotomayor, John Calhoun Wells (who "got out before the dispute
got him), Ripken and civics teachers.  Losers:  Morgan, Lewis &
Brockius ("When the client doesn't know what's good for him, do
you take orders or take a hike?"), Selig, fans, umpires, Usery,
Clinton (Balto. SUN, 4/3).
     BOSTON GLOBE'S BOB RYAN:  "Until the owners rectify the big-
market, small-market revenue situation and find an economic
system they can live with ... we'll be right back here a year
from now" ("CBS This Morning," 4/3).
     BOSTON GLOBE'S DAN SHAUGHNESSY:  "Everything that happened
in the last six weeks meant nothing.  As Emily Latella would say,
'Never mind'" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/3).
     BOSTON HERALD'S GEORGE KIMBALL writes the owners' "final
days were marked by bickering, panic-stricken moves and a
complete and utter crumbling of resolve" (BOSTON HERALD, 4/3).
     BOSTON HERALD'S MICHAEL GEE:  "The owners are on the verge
of gaining their most substantial financial concessions since
free agency, even if they accepted the union's latest proposal.
But the moguls don't see that, because they're blind with rage.
How dare Judge Sonia Sotomayor rule that United States laws apply
to baseball" (BOSTON HERALD, 4/3).
     CARDINALS PRESIDENT MARK LAMPING: "The aspect of this
regarding the players coming back without a settlement, from our
point of view, solves absolutely nothing" ("Nightly News," NBC,
3/31).
     CHICAGO TRIBUNE'S ANDREW BAGNATO:  "Don't expect a
tickertape parade to mark the game's return" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE,
4/3).
     CNN'S BOB LORENZ:  "This game, which has been in disarray
for nearly eight months, appears to have been pieced back
together again.  Fans now can only hope that this time around it
won't fall apart before the playoffs and World Series begins"
("Sports Tonight," CNN, 4/2).
     ESPN'S PETER GAMMONS: "Let's face it, the game is much worse
off today than it was on August 12 when they struck, and coming
back doesn't do anything to help that.  I am afraid if this thing
drags on and they can't get a settlement during the year, they
are going to diminish this industry dramatically" ("Sunday
Sportsday," ESPN, 4/2).
     FORMER COMMISSIONER FAY VINCENT:  "What a tremendous waste
of time it all was. ... I feel very bad for an institution that I
was involved with, that it is just so untidy and unsuccessful.
It's embarrassingly inept.  The tragedy is a lack of planning, a
lack of care. ... They would be better off spending their time
figuring out how to work together" (Claire Smith, N.Y. TIMES,
4/2).
     GREY ADVERTISING SENIOR VP JON MANDEL:  "The players are
back; the game is back; but will the business be back?  The jury
is out.  And if the fans aren't going to be into baseball, do I,
as a company, want to be the official whatever of Major League
Baseball?" (John Helyar, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/3).
     LOS ANGELES TIMES' BILL DWYRE:  "The fact that the game's
major players, who own the game's major players, could not decide
anything in eight months of finger-pointing, name-calling and
hate-mongering ... cannot be forgotten" (L.A. TIMES, 4/3).
     METS OWNER FRED WILPON:  "There are no winners here.
There's a temporary perception of a win for the union and a loss
for the owners, but there's no winner unless there's a collective
bargaining agreement" (N.Y. POST, 4/1).
     NBC'S BOB COSTAS:  "In the ebb and flow in this long
dispute, this is a significant victory for the players. ... Keep
this is mind, even though replacement baseball has probably been
avoided and even though the real players will be back, the fans
interest is not protected until there is a true collective
bargaining agreement" ("Nightly News," NBC, 3/31).  Costas, this
morning:  "As a practical matter, had she [Judge Sotomayor] not
issued the injunction, we might have had a settlement quicker
because there was pressure on both sides" ("Today," NBC, 4/3).
     NBC'S ODETTA ROGERS-CLARKE on the possibility of another
strike:  "Even union officials admit that if they let fans down
again, they would be really dropping the ball.  Perhaps for good"
("Nightly News," NBC, 4/2).
     NEW YORK DAILY NEWS' BILL MADDEN:  "It is the owners'
lawyers who have a lot of explaining to do.  The Washington firm
of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, which represented the owners
through all the collusion cases, is looking like the Anthony
Young of law firms" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/1).
     NEW YORK NEWSDAY'S MIKE LUPICA:  "This needs to end now.
The owners and players are close than they've ever been on the
issue of a luxury tax on team payrolls. ... They all should have
been in a room [Saturday] night and into [Sunday] morning and
through this day hammering all that out.  But the posturing
continues" (NEWSDAY, 4/2).
     NEW YORK POST'S TOM KEEGAN, to the owners:  "Maybe your
Nightmare Team of crack litigators will win one in 2020 on the
50-year anniversary [of the Flood decision].  Try again then, not
now" (N.Y. POST, 4/1).
     NEW YORK TIMES' CLAIRE SMITH:  "If and when the players
return, old fissures, jealousies and fears cannot help
resurfacing on the management team" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/3).
     NEW YORK TIMES' DAVE ANDERSON:  "There is no winner.  There
will never be a winner.  There is only a loser:  you [the fan]"
(N.Y. TIMES, 4/3).
     NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL:  "This is a reprieve, not a
resolution" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/3).
     ORIOLES OWNER PETER ANGELOS:  "We all have positions and
sometimes we're right and sometimes we're wrong.  Maybe this time
I was right.  Hopefully, the next time I won't be wrong" (Peter
Schmuck, Baltimore SUN, 4/3).
     PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER's BILL LYON:  "There is not the
flimsiest tatter of evidence to suggest that either side is any
smarter than it was 7 1/2 months ago" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER,
4/3).
     PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER's FRANK DOLSON:  "Common sense says
there's no way either side in this baseball mess would dare
subject themselves and their game to a repeat of what we have
just endured. ... But since when has common sense been a factor
in all this? (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/3).
     PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER'S JAYSON STARK:  "What is sad about
the way this strike ended is that it hardly made anything in
baseball better.  It just increased the animosity and the sadness
and the uncertainty.  And you don't fight a 7 1/2-month war to
make things worse" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/2).
     PRESIDENT CLINTON:  "While I am heartened to know this
season will start with major league players, there are a number
of underlying issues which still need to be resolved" (ATLANTA
CONSTITUTION, 4/3).
     TAMPA TRIBUNE'S JOE HENDERSON:  "Baseball owners -- the
collective equivalent of the '62 Mets in Brooks Brothers suits --
 never learn.  Once again, the guardians of our national pastime
overlooked such trivialities as the law, and once again a judge
thumbed them" (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 4/1).
     TULANE LAW'S GARY ROBERTS:  "The owners are in a very
awkward and difficult position and it will probably mean that
they will be willing to make some compromises now that they were
not willing to make at the bargaining table in the past"
("Nightly News," NBC, 3/31).
     USA TODAY'S HAL BODLEY:  "The bottom line?  There were no
real winners.  Only one big loser.  Major league baseball" (USA
TODAY, 4/3).
     WASHINGTON POST'S FRANK SWOBODA: "Score it 8-0, players over
the owners ... the owners' decision not to lock out the players
was a clear signal of surrender in the latest round of contract
negotiations" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/3).
     WASHINGTON POST'S SHIRLEY POVICH:  "After eight months of
useless, expensive, boorish bargaining, they have progressed all
the way back to square one.  Humph" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/2).
     WASHINGTON POST'S THOMAS BOSWELL:  "This is Bud Selig's
legacy:  He took control of the game when it had small,
manageable financial problems. ... Now, in less than eight
months, the game is at the brink of total financial comedy"
(WASHINGTON POST, 4/3).

     In Chicago, Sam Smith claims that the NBA's contract
negotiations are "sounding familiar."  "Now that baseball is
fixing its problems, it's only appropriate that the NBA's
negotiations on a new contract are dragging," writes Smith.
Smith notes that the latest proposal from the union would give
players the "equivalent of about 70 percent of the league's gross
revenues under the previous formula for distributions."
According to the NBPA, "that shows just how much the teams were
hiding before" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/3).