Bush Wants Baseball Labor Peace

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” As a baseball man in the White House, President-elect Bush will tell his old colleagues ``loud and clear, I hope there's not a strike'' next fall. But he also says owners

Friday, January 19th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” As a baseball man in the White House, President-elect Bush will tell his old colleagues ``loud and clear, I hope there's not a strike'' next fall. But he also says owners and players will have to settle their own differences and should not look to him.

Bush, once managing partner of the Texas Rangers of the American League, left the job to run for governor in 1994. The team was sold in 1998. His office in the Texas Capitol in Austin was lined with souvenir baseballs, and he said he still counts leaders of the game among his great friends.

Baseball's labor contract with its players expires on Oct. 31, and friction over soaring player salaries could lead to the ninth work stoppage since 1972, either an owner lockout or a strike.

Bush said in an interview with The Associated Press that he is worried about that. ``I was around when the last strike occurred and it hurt the game,'' he said. ``And I think it is hard, even more, to tolerate a strike.''

The 1994 strike canceled the World Series for the first time in 90 years and delayed the start of the 1995 season.

Baseball owners want to restrain player salaries that will average more than $2 million a season for the first time next year. Free agent salaries have just escalated, partly because of the Rangers' $252 million, 10-year contract with shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

In the interview, Bush chuckled in anticipation of the question as soon as he was asked if he were president of the Rangers instead of the United States â€”

``A-Rod,'' he broke in, the player's nickname.

Would he pay $252 million for a shortstop? the question continued.

Bush said he'd talked about it with the Rangers' new owner, Tom Hicks, who bought the entire team for $250 million in 1998.

``He called to congratulate me, and I talked to him the other day about his decision, and he is confident he made the absolutely right call â€” so long as he can keep the rest of his payroll in check,'' Bush said.

``I don't know the kid, but he said the kid is a great kid,'' Bush said. ``On the other hand, it's hard to justify paying more for a player than you paid for the entire franchise. ...''

On the possibility of a work stoppage, Bush indicated he would not intercede, as President Clinton did in the 1994 strike when he met with Commissioner Bud Selig and Donald Fehr, head of the Players Association, at the White House to urge a settlement. The work stoppage went on for 2 1/2 more months despite.

``I can just say loud and clear, I hope there's not a strike,'' Bush said. ``But it's going to be up to the participants. ... If they think they can turn to me â€” they shouldn't be looking to me.

``They need to get this settled themselves.''

``I've got great friends, you know,'' he said, among them Selig, Sandy Alderson, an executive vice president in the commissioner's office, and Paul Beeston, the chief operating officer. ``They're smart, capable people,'' Bush said. ``Don Fehr is a person I also know and I respect Don, he's tough.''

Bush had talked earlier of revenue sharing by the sport's wealthy, of the strongest franchises giving more of their locally generated money to the small markets, now weakened on the field by their inability to afford superstar salaries.

He said increased revenue sharing would be difficult. ``It gets harder as the value of the franchises, the equity in each franchise, differs,'' Bush said. ``But the truth of the matter is, I always felt the long term solution was to share revenue, as much revenue as possible, particularly the media contracts because, you know, you're no good in the big market unless the small market teams come to play.''

He said he also hoped that ``on the labor side, there could be more free market,'' perhaps with a deal to end salary arbitration, in which players with three to six years in the major leagues can have an arbitrator chose either their salary demand or the team's offer.

After six years, a player can declare himself a free agent, and sign for the best deal he can make, which is the way Rodriguez went from the Seattle Mariners to the richest player contract in professional sports with the Rangers.

Bush's suggestion:

``Get rid of arbitration if possible and have, maybe, free agency occur at an earlier time, and if there's three shortstops and two bidders the price goes down, and vice versa, it goes up.''