Friday, July 05, 2002
Players may set strike date Monday
Enquirer news service
CHICAGO — The Detroit Tigers' Damion Easley said Thursday he thinks the players will vote to set a strike date on Monday at a meeting of the Major League Players Association executive board.
Easley is the Tigers' player representative and a member of the board. After his team's series with the Red Sox, he will fly from Boston to Chicago for the meeting with his friend and former teammate Tony Clark, who also is a member of the board.
“More than likely,” Easley said about setting a date. “That's our big chip.”
Until now, another work stoppage has loomed only as a distant, dangerous possibility, one that most fans can't fathom baseball going through again after the immensely-damaging stoppage of 1994.
The owners want to reduce salaries and end the revenue disparity between big-market and small-market teams. The players believe if they don't strike before the end of the season, the owners will lock them out of spring training.
Once a date is set, the wheels toward a confrontation would begin to turn.
“Of course, you don't want to just walk out,” Easley said, “but we have to do what we have to do to get this thing moving.”
When asked how the public will view such a major step, Easley said it would “reverberate loudly, both negatively and hopefully positively if it helps to get a deal done.”
“Ultimately, whether we do or we don't (set a date), we (the players) will be looked on as being spoiled,” he said. “From that standpoint, we can't win. But at the same time, we have to preserve this game.”
Would a stoppage preserve the game?
“I'm not even going to try to predict that,” Easley said.
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Players may set strike date Monday
