NL President Len Coleman "will notify" 13 league
umpires today that their resignations are being accepted,
according to USA TODAY's Hal Bodley, who writes that Coleman
will also be "trying to determine" which of the 33 NL
umpires who withdrew their resignations "will be kept."
Meanwhile, 14 umpires "trying to oust" MLB General Counsel
Richie Phillips issued a statement yesterday saying that the
union's "strategy was flawed from the beginning." From the
statement: "If we had not taken a stand, all major league
umpires could be facing the end of their careers." AL ump
John Hirschbeck: "This whole thing of trying to resign from
your job was ridiculous, and that's why this effort is going
on." Bodley reports that the MLBUA has retained attorney
Bruce Simon of Cohen, Weiss and Simon to represent the union
in its unfair labor practice suit against MLB (USA TODAY,
7/29). In N.Y., Murray Chass notes that the umpires'
statement "made no mention" of Phillips (N.Y. TIMES, 7/29).
The AP's Ronald Blum: "[MLB] must be careful not to accept
the resignations of too many of the union's leaders, because
that would open the sport to a charge of illegal
retaliation" (AP, 7/29).
SUBBING SHAPIRO FOR PHILLIPS? In Philadelphia, Jayson
Stark writes on Baltimore attorney Ron Shapiro, who "has
been approached by a sizable group" of umpires about
replacing Phillips. Shapiro: "All I want to say is this. I
want to find ways to end conflict, and I will continue to
work in an unofficial way to achieve that. ... I've learned
that confrontational bargaining -- and particularly public
confrontational bargaining -- is the worst thing you can do.
... Negotiation is a process -- not an event" (PHILADELPHIA
INQUIRER, 7/29). USA TODAY BASEBALL WEEKLY's Tim Wendel
asked Phillips, "There are reports that you will soon be out
as [MLBUA General Counsel]." Phillips: "There was a very
small fringe of umpires who wanted to go out and seek other
counsel. They were voted down (in February) and that was
that. I have a five-year contract and I imagine that I will
fulfill that contract" (USA TODAY BASEBALL WEEKLY, 7/28).
THE POST-GAME ANALYSIS: USA TODAY's Hal Bodley writes
that the MLBUA "failed largely" because minor league umpires
"refused to support them" (USA TODAY, 7/29). MLBPA Founder
Marvin Miller: "The amazing and appalling part of all of
this is how many options [the umpires] ended up giving the
owners. ... This was just a terrible mistake on their part"
(Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 7/29).
