NEW YORK, March 31 -- Striking major league baseball players vowed Friday to return to the field in the wake of an injunction that reinstates terms of the previous collective bargaining agreement, but owners have yet to decide whether they want the players back. U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor ruled Friday that owners were guilty of unfair labor practices by implementing new free agency and salary arbitration rules. The injunction was sought by the National Labor Relations Board. The injunction restores salary arbitration, free-agent bidding and anti-collusion rules that were wiped out when owners declared an impasse in bargaining and voted to unilaterally implement work rules. 'The best news for everyone is, absent a lockout by the clubs, we can get back to the business of real baseball on the field,' said Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players' Association. But a lockout is just what players and fans may get. Owners, who immediately filed an appeal of the ruling, spent Friday afternoon deciding whether to allow the players back on the field or continue with plans to use replacement players until a collective bargaining agreement is reached. Management scheduled a conference call for early Friday evening, with owners gathering in New York for a meeting on Saturday. If owners agree to a return to 1994 work rules and allow the players to return, spring-training workouts could begin within a week. However, it would push back the start of the season to late April.
'I would hope that with this decision, we can put together a good spring training -- we have experience from doing that in 1990 (when owners locked out players),' Fehr said. 'Opening Day may be delayed a little bit, but the parties will make the maximum effort to play as many games as possible.' Since the end of the season cannot be pushed back because of potential weather difficulties in playing the World Series, the 1995 season could be shortened to as few as 140 games. In her ruling, Sotomayor said the terms of the collective bargaining agreement should remain in effect until there is a new agreement or an impasse is declared. Owners claimed there was an impasse in negotiations, allowing them to implement the new rules. Sotomayor disagreed, saying there was no impasse. 'The owners acted collusively, the owners acted incorrectly and improperly in unilaterally rescinding both salary arbitration and free agency,' Sotomayor told the parties in court Friday. 'I will inform the clubs to negotiate with individual players. The owners have violated labor laws. If the status quo is not maintained, the players will be improperly harmed.' Sotomayor said she made her decision quickly because of the urgency of the situation -- the regular season is scheduled to begin Sunday night -- and said she hoped the two sides would continue to bargain in good faith. 'I think this finally levels the playing field in the bargaining room,' said Kansas City Royals pitcher David Cone, a member of the union's negotiating committee. 'The players are ready to go. We're going to try to talk to every player in membership tonight and let them know to be on call.' Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine added: 'We've been saying for seven months that the owners have not bargained with us in good faith. I know there are a lot of people out there who feel we're babies whining about our situation, but we got the court to agree with us. Now we have the opportunity to sit down with one another and get honest-to-goodness negotiations going.' The 28 owners, needing a three-quarters majority to approve a lockout, are unsure if they have enough votes to implement the action. Baltimore, Toronto and the New York Yankees dissented earlier this week in electing to use replacement players, though Yankees owner George Steinbrenner later changed his vote to side with the majority. The New York Mets and Florida Marlins are scheduled to play the first game of the season Sunday night in Miami. 'We still have a very serious difference of opinion about the long- term health of the game,' San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan said. 'It doesn't make much sense to just bring the players back with no resolution of the problems we and many other clubs face. I don't think that would be in the best interest of baseball.' The players made a counterproposal to the owners' latest offer Thursday night and Fehr said that progress had been made toward a possible settlement in the 7 -month players' strike. Fehr said the union and the owners had reached agreement on many issues, including free agency and arbitration, but were still in disagreement on the tax plan presented by the owners Monday in what was termed their final proposal. Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf was less optimistic, saying in a radio interview that owners are 'committed to start the season' with replacement players. 'We're no closer to a settlement today than we were yesterday,' said Reinsdorf, one of the most hard-line owners. 'We're still miles apart on the tax and threshold issues.' Meanwhile, major-league umpires also have been locked out since Dec. 31. 'We've held talks with the league just about every week, but it is hard to say how close or how far we are away from reaching an agreement, ' union official Bob Opalka said from headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.
