A players' strike is threatening to cut short the Major League Baseball season — and end the life of Cinergy Field 13 games early.

        Members of the Major League Baseball Players Association announced Friday that players will go out on strike Aug. 30 if no settlement is reached between the union and owners. .

WILL BASEBALL STRIKE OUT? • Walkout Aug. 30 as talks stumble • Team and city are staring at a Big Red-Ink Machine • Salaries, disparity (PDF) • Young Reds optimistic labor talks will succeed • Fans have no sympathy for players, owners • Lawmakers unlikely to go to bat for game • Strike would end Cinergy's life early

        The Cincinnati Reds are scheduled to move into the new Great American Ball Park next year, so the last professional baseball game to be played at the 32-year-old facility was scheduled to be against Philadelphia on Sept. 22. The entire weekend series against the Phillies is sold out.

        But a strike that starts

        Aug. 30 and extends through the end of the season would move up the final Reds' game at Cinergy Field to Aug. 29, a 12:35 p.m. game against St. Louis.

        Murray Holland, an area manager for Tickets.com, said there are plenty of seats still available for the Aug. 29 game. Only 15,500 tickets have been sold thus far.

        “Right now there hasn't been a spike in sales for that game,” Mr. Holland said. “My gut tells me people may hold off on buying tickets for that game and we won't see any significant change for a while.”

        Mr. Holland said the Reds have a policy in place for refunding money to fans with tickets to games canceled by the strike. Reds' spokesman Rob Butcher would not comment. He said the policy would be made clear if the strike happens.

        “We don't have any comment on anything related to any prospect of any kind of strike,” Mr. Butcher said. “It hasn't happened, and we don't know that it's going to happen.”

        Reds management has had very little to say since general manager Jim Bowden compared the possible players' strike to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Mr. Bowden apologized, and was fined the next day by Major League Baseball.

        One Cinergy Field game not threatened by the strike is the all-star softball game that will feature Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and other Reds greats against a team of former Major League Baseball stars. That game, dubbed the “Farewell to Cinergy/Riverfront Stadium,” is scheduled for Sept. 23.

        Promoter Marty Garafalo said there is no plan to move up the game in the event of a strike. That wouldn't be fair to ticket holders, he said. But there could be a change in events around the game.

        “If there isn't any baseball played after Aug. 30, at that point we would change the program,” Mr. Garafalo said. “I would hate to see the Reds lose (the opportunity to play) that weekend. It's something the organization and the fans deserve. And we were rooting for the Reds to make the postseason.

        “But without the Reds home stand there, let's face it, we're the last event in the stadium and something special has to be done.”

        Mr. Garafalo said more tickets for the sold-out softball game might be made available. An announcement on that will be made, most likely next week.

Team and city are staring at a Big Red-Ink Machine Walkout Aug. 30 as talks stumble Young Reds optimistic labor talks will succeed Fans have no sympathy for players, owners Lawmakers unlikely to go to bat for game Strike would end Cinergy's life early Reds 9, Astros 3 Reds Box, Runs Larson's promising season may be ended by broken toe Moehler starting to feel comfortable in Cincinnati Phillies 4, Cardinals 0 Rolen welcomed, Philadelphia style Late games Notes from Friday's games Louisville 7, Toledo 3

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