In the Strike Zone

Above the 1981 baseball season's uncommonly sunny start there looms a dark cloud left over from a winter of discontent. There is every chance of a strike of baseball players on May 29.

The problem is free agency, a status the players won in a 1975 federal court decision. The ruling gave them the right to leave their teams after six years of major league service and sign with the highest bidder. Since then, 248 players have taken that option, and the average major league salary has more than tripled, to almost $180,000 a year. The owners abhor free agency more than rain and have been trying to force modifications of the system. A strike over the issue was narrowly avoided last year when the owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association agreed to further negotiations. The two sides failed to come up with a settlement during the winter, and in February the owners unilaterally imposed their own solution.

That scheme, so far untested, requires a team signing a "ranking" free agent to compensate the player's former club with a man of its own. (Ranking players are defined as those in the top half of the league in number of batting or pitching appearances.) Each club could, however, protect a number of its stars from being grabbed as compensation. The players abhor that plan more than night games in April because it presumably would make owners less eager to sign free agents, thus driving down their market price. Complains Marvin Miller, the players' union chief: "Let's say the free agent is an outstanding player but is 38 years old. A club might stand to lose one of its good young prospects if it took him, and that might kill the free agent's chances."

The players have said they would consider accepting some less punishing scheme of compensation, but the owners are refusing to compromise. They seem determined to force a walkout; as much as $50 million in strike insurance has been arranged with Lloyd's of London. Says American League Player Representative Doug DeCinces of the Baltimore Orioles: "Time and again we've tried to discuss our situation and time and again we've been treated like spoiled kids." The situation has got to the point where DeCinces' National League counterpart, Bob Boone of the Philadelphia Phillies, will not talk about it. Says New York Mets Player Representative Rusty Staub:

"The owners are leaving us no alternative."

Commissioner Bowie Kuhn is pessimistic. Says he: "The players may have miscalculated the determination of the owners." A strike as devastating as the 13-day walkout in 1972 is possible. That would not only darken the future of baseball, but also ruin a perfectly glorious spring.

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