Acting Commissioner Bud Selig has set up a working
group to study ways to improve on-field relationships. The
groups consists of AL President Gene Budig; NL President Len
Coleman; MLBPA Associate General Counsel Gene Orza; MLBPA
Special Assistant Mark Belanger; MLBUA General Counsel
Richie Phillips; Players Relations Committee chief Randy
Levine; MLB Exec Dir of Baseball Ops Bill Murray; Red Sox
Exec VP/GM Dan Duquette; and Phillies Senior VP/GM Lee
Thomas (MLB). In Milwaukee, Tom Haudricourt notes the
umpires new "get-tough" policy and the Yankees-adidas deal:
"It was another week of trying to stamp out brushfires for
... Bud Selig, whose resolve to stay on the job is being
severely tested" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 3/9).
UMPIRES REAX: The following reactions are to the
MLBUA's new zero-tolerance pledge. In Akron, Sheldon Ocker:
"If the umpires go too far, if they make a mockery of the
game, maybe the owners finally will show them the highway"
(AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 3/9). In S.F., Bruce Jenkins:
"Somewhere along the line, baseball's umpires determined
they were part of the show. Now they're threatening further
damage to a game already in dire need of repair" (S.F.
CHRONICLE, 3/8). In Denver, Jerry Crasnick writes under the
header, "Umpires Miss Call By Playing Hardball." Crasnick:
"It reinforces the impression that the men in blue are drunk
with power" (DENVER POST, 3/9). In Boston, Peter Gammons:
"Several clubs are up in arms because of the way the
umpires' four-week vacations are set up." One club
official: "What we are going to see is a bunch of Triple A
umpires doing September games" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/9). In
Orlando, Brian Schmitz writes umpires "wouldn't feel as if
they had to take the game into their own hands if baseball
had somebody running it" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 3/9).
