Friday, July 23, 1999
Baseball hires replacement umps
BY RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Baseball, not waiting for its squabbling umpires to resign, hired 10 minor league umps Thursday to take their place later this season.
Making their first response to the mass resignations, commissioner Bud Selig and his top officials hired the Triple-A replacements, who had been working as vacation fill-ins. They were notified they were being added to major league staffs on a permanent basis starting Sept. 1 — the day before the resignations are to take effect.
The bickering umpires have split into two camps — those for and against union head Richie Phillips. The faction backing him is mostly in the National League.
Some are having a hard time deciding whether to follow Phillips. For example, American League ump Greg Kosc resigned, withdrew it, then quit again.
So far, 33 of the 36 NL umpires plan to quit, according to a count by The Associated Press, but only about half of the AL's 32 umpires plan to leave.
Umpires on each side have been pressuring their wavering colleagues.
“A lot of this is all posturing, negotiating tactics,” said AL ump Tim McClelland, who hasn't quit yet but says he intends to. “You have to take it with a grain of salt.”
Baseball's decision to hire new umpires wasn't expected so soon.
“It's part of their strategy, but I don't know what their strategy is yet,” Phillips said.
Meanwhile, 51 major league umpires held a conference call Thursday morning to discuss their position, NL umpire Bruce Froemming said.
“I think there's a lot more solidarity than there was two or three days ago,” he said.
However, there were some umpires who felt Phillips had to go.
“I am adamantly opposed to this kind of leadership,” said the AL's Dave Phillips, who is no relation to the union head. “There are times when you pull out your gun, your mortar and go winner-take-all. But communication and negotiation are the most important ingredients we need.”
Richie Phillips said he has been opposed by an AL faction that existed since before the 1995 lockout.
“They do not like me personally, do not like my style and believe I'm too confrontational a lawyer,” he said. “The media is providing them with a forum. Fifty-five guys say Richie Phillips is the greatest thing that ever happened to officiating in any sport and has won battle after battle after battle for us since 1978.”
The decision to hire the new umpires came after virtually every top baseball official went to Milwaukee to meet with Selig, a group that included NL president Len Coleman, AL president Gene Budig, chief operating officer Paul Beeston, executive vice president Sandy Alderson and five lawyers.
Though baseball didn't announce the hirings, they were confirmed by Richie Phillips and several baseball officials. Selig declined comment, saying he would discuss the umpires at another time.
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