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CNN Live Today

Baseball Hits Bottom of the Ninth

Aired August 29, 2002 - 12:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: First, though, the question on everybody's mind, if you're a baseball fan, will they, or won't they? Not even the players know if they will go on strike tomorrow. Their union, the owners, they are still trying a deal. And if they can't, the season will end in Anaheim, California, where the angels play host to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
CNN's Jeff Flock is in Milwaukee, site of another late game tonight, and Josie Karp is monitoring the talks in New York. Josie, let's begin with you.

What are you hearing?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well they had one meeting so far today, Kyra. It lasted for about an hour and 40 minutes and it took place here at Major League Baseball headquarters. Bud Selig, baseball's commissioner, is in the building. He was not an active participant in that meeting. He actually arrived here in New York yesterday from his home in Milwaukee. Yesterday was a very long day, and today stands to be another long day.

When Bud Selig left this building around midnight last night, he said there is still a of things that need to be resolved. We have talked all along about some of the core economic issues. The two main ones are revenue shares and a luxury tax that separated the two sides. They need to work those things out. They are talking about a fourth year on luxury tax, a fourth year of this luxury agreement. The two sides are pretty far apart in terms of what that threshold would be in fourth year.

And just one more issue that seems to have has cropped up recently is the exact termination of this agreement, whether it will end on October 301 or December 31. Each side has a strong feelings and reasons for wanting one date or the other. That's an issue we haven't heard a lot about, but we are hearing now, it could be one of those barriers that separates the two sides. It's clearly something that they are talking about today and have to address before any agreement is reached -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Josie Karp. Let's turn it to Jeff Flock now. He's in Milwaukee. What are fan saying -- Jeff.

FLOCK: Well, Kyra, we are inside Miller Park, beautiful ballpark, perhaps you can see the turnstiles, and there is a sound that you can hear, some happy fans, a sound that you might not hear after a little while. That's the clicking of those turnstiles. Not only are the fans concerned about what's what's going on here, but a lot of the folks that make their living out at the ballpark, people that do things like sell scorecards that you see back there, all sorts of other things. I met a guy over here who sells bats. What he'll do is he'll take your name, and if you sign it on a piece ever paper, he'll put on it -- Stan, hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, how are you?

FLOCK: Hey, good to see you.

Tell me your name.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Stan Oliver.

FLOCK: And you have a business that will put my name on a bat, if you like.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. We personalize them. It's Stick by Stanbat (ph) company, and we do signatures, and block put kids' names in on the bat.

FLOCK: Give me some sense of the impact you on if there is a strike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have these in five parks in the country, and they're, you know, in Arizona and Atlanta, which are good teams that could head for the playoffs.

FLOCK: The more games you get. If you get a playoff team, you can sell a lot of bats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, a little company like my little mom and pop, we stand to lose $200,000 to $300,000.

FLOCK: Is that right, that much money? I am looking out on the field now. I want to take a look for our viewers out on the field. Those are the ballplayers out there. They are warming up. You will lose $200,000 or $300,000 potentially if there is a strike that ends this season. Players make a lot of money. What message would you like to send out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I just hope it can be resolved. It's a great season, because they have some good races going on. It's a good game. You have a lot of fans enjoying this, and I think this part of the year that's coming up, it is really, you know, think about other things than this kind of stuff.

But, I like to just really stay focused and get the season finished and have a good -- the pennant races are good. I am positive, I am hopeful they will get past this.

FLOCK: I hear you. Good time to be positive. One more day at least. I see you got a lot of people ready, a lot of bats here potentially to sell, and ones that won't get sold if, in fact, the season comes to a conclusion.

That is the latest from here, Kyra. KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A beautiful day for a ball game out at Miller Park in Milwaukee. And hopefully tomorrow will be a beautiful day, too. We'll see.

Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Fans are with you. Jeff Flock from Milwaukee. Thanks, Jeff.

Joining us now for some perspective on all of this, someone who makes his living following baseball, Tom Keegan with "The New York Post."

Hi, Tom.

TOM KEEGAN, "THE NEW YORK POST": How are you doing?

PHILLIPS: What do you think? Last game ends or midnight, whichever coming first, what's going to happen?

KEEGAN: Well, it could go through the night, and really, they don't need an agreement until the morning, 9:00 or 10:00, something like that, because the Cubs have a day game.

And you know, it was very popular in '94 and '95 to demonize Jerry Reinsdorf and it's very popular now to demonize Bud Selig, but I believe Bud Selig, and at the moment of, I think Bud will be wearing the right cap, the cap of commissioner, doing what is best in interest of baseball, and not of a small market owner, which he is or he has been. I believe he'll do the right thing and get an agreement. And if players agree to keep the luxury tax in effect for all four years, there is a deal to be made.

I have faith in Bud Selig. All right, well, Tom, as you can imagine, this subject matter created quite a stir in our newsroom this morning in our meeting; everyone had a different opinion. So I want to throw some of our thoughts at you and see what you have to say right, OK?

First of all, when we're talking about why this strike is about to happen, you're talking about money, we're talking about salaries, do you think this game is about the love of the game and about the fans or, when it comes down to it, it's just about money now?

KEEGAN: Well, you know what, that's what you always hear, but I wrote a book with a 91-year-old pitcher named Elgin Alcher (ph), sleeper cars and flannel uniforms. And one of the most refreshing things in that book is Elgin (ph) saying, we did it for the money, of course, we're professionals that is why we were in it, for the money. And you know what, would I play for free? Yes. But guess what, I'd have to. No one would be dumb enough to pay to see me play baseball because I'm a terrible player.

We all wanted to be baseball players, but only the very, very best are baseball players, and those are the guys who that we pay to see. PHILLIPS: Tom, you go back in time. Let's talk about the Negro League. They are guys, they didn't care what they got paid, they just wanted to integrate, showcase their skills, get in their and play. They had passion about the game. It seems it is just about the paycheck now.

KEEGAN: You know, they wanted to get paid, too. That's how they made their living. Yes, they wanted to get integrated, but they also had a great time doing what they did. Ted "Double Duty" Radcliff turned 100 this summer. He is a friend of mine, and he still has a great time talking about the great times he had.

I think in any business, you are going to have whiners, whether it's a sportwriters, baseball players, whatever, and you have people who are passionate about their jobs. And you have both right now. Are you going to tell me that Torre (ph) Hunter is not passionate about his job for the Minnesota Twins. There so a million Torre Hunters out there. Greg Maddox. I could go on and on. There is a lot of guys who are very passionate about their jobs and there are some whiners.

PHILLIPS: But a strike is about to happen because of money. You go back to the days of Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, all these guys. Many of them had to take on second jobs, but they didn't quit playing the game.

KEEGAN: You know why, because they didn't have a union that got them fair wages, and management completely took advantage of him. Now, because this union is so strong, the pendulum has swung so far in other direction, that it's starting to swing back a little, and the owners -- I am sorry, the players have to make some concessions that have started that swinging back, and they have to make a few more here, and the owners have to come meet them, and I think that'll happen, because Bud Selig is going to be wearing the cap of the commissioner who acts in best interest of baseball and not cap of the small market owners.

PHILLIPS: Tom, do you think that this will affect the minor leagues?

KEEGAN: No, it shouldn't affect the minor leagues at all. Their seasons are just about wrapped up anyway, and that -- it has no real affect on that.

PHILLIPS: What do you think of these luxury boxes, the advertisements, the upscale cocktail lounges, the baseball fields that are named after companies. It's just amazing how businesses infiltrated, not only baseball, but sports in general.

KEEGAN: You know, that's the way of the world. It has not caught up to NASCAR. You do not see players wearing names of laundry detergents on their uniforms. But that is the way of the world. That's the way it is.

PHILLIPS: Tom, we got an e-mail this morning I thought made a really poignant point, and that was take off the baseball uniform, put on the uniform of a police officer, or a firefighter and then complain about money.

KEEGAN: Well, I don't think they're complaining about money, here I really don't. I don't you don't hear them saying we need to make more. Gross revenues have grown at a faster rate than salaries. So, I mean, why wouldn't they want to keep pace with that? It's just not a popularity contest. And Don Fehr (ph) isn't here trying to win public relation points. He represents the players, he doesn't represent the public.

PHILLIPS: Tom Keegan, "New York Post," it will be interesting to see what happens. Tom, thanks.

KEEGAN: Thank you.

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