A fraction of hard-line MLB team owners "remained adamant"
yesterday in opposition to the proposed labor deal and Acting
Commissioner Bud Selig had yet to schedule an ownership meeting
for a vote on the deal, according to Mark Maske of the WASHINGTON
POST. A source familiar with the owners' discussions said the
holdouts, including White Sox Chair Jerry Reinsdorf, Marlins
Chair Wayne Huizenga, Cubs President Andy MacPhail, and Royals
Chair David Glass, are not in favor of the latest union
concessions regarding service time and a second-tax free year in
2001. The source said, "They still don't want it. The whole
thing could be about to fall apart again" (WASHINGTON POST,
10/29). Selig said Monday: "The process is still running. I've
made a lot of calls; we've discussed a lot of issues." Selig
said he would call a owners meeting "very shortly." A management
source said that Selig "was furious" at MLBPA Exec Dir Donald
Fehr for announcing Saturday that a deal was done. There
reportedly was an agreement made Thursday that neither side would
go public with a deal until owners had been briefed (MILWAUKEE
JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/29). A USA TODAY survey of owners indicates
five teams are against the deal: White Sox, Cubs, Marlins, Expos
and Royals. 14 will approve it and nine are undecided. The
undecided: Red Sox, Angels, Brewers, Twins, Tigers, Indians,
Mariners, Reds, and Astros (Hal Bodley, USA TODAY, 10/29). In
Montreal, Expos President Claude Brochu said he would vote for a
labor deal granting service time "only in the right package,"
adding "We will support an agreement only if it recognized the
need to work to solve the economic problems of the industry"
(Jeff Blair, MONTREAL GAZETTE, 10/29).
