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CNN Live Today

Fans Await Possible Baseball Strike

Aired August 30, 2002 - 11:02   ET

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

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: If we could keep this picture, or squeeze it in or something, I would like to keep an eye on this while we go to Josie Karp, our CNN sports reporter who is -- she has been -- boy, I think she has been up all night with the owners and the players while they have been talking up in New York.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I think so. Seems like a few days she has been up around the clock.

HARRIS: Josie, what are you hearing now?

JOSIE KARP, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, from what we can tell, no one has emerged here either, so it looks like talks are continuing. We are just waiting, like those people in Boston, to see who comes out and what they are going to say. I want to see these pictures too of what is going on in Fenway.

WHITFIELD: Well, hopefully we are doing an OK job describing them for you because right now, it just looks like two dozen or so -- what look to be fans that are standing at the fence and just kind of waiting.

(CROSSTALK)

KARP: The waiting here -- game here is like tons and tons and tons of reporters. There are a few fans, people who come out, try to make a little bit of a statement, wearing their no-strike T-shirts. There is a strike mobile-type vehicle that drives by, occasionally playing some very loud music.

And again, the clock is really ticking though. You get the sense -- the growing anticipation that something has to happen soon.

HARRIS: Yes, well, Josie, what are you hearing about what is going on inside that building behind you, because there have been reports that have come out over the wires that have been all over the place. One says that they have got a deal, or they are close to one. Another one says they are still talking. What are you hearing there?

KARP: I don't think that anybody is going to know for sure exactly what is going on. They can only know for sure if you are actually in that room right now. There have been these indications. We've been getting them since 4:00 in the morning when one of the owners' sources came out and said that he felt like a deal would get done. So things have been pointing and pointing and pointing toward the direction that something will get done, but keep in mind one thing, I know we kind of joke about those pictures in Boston. The union is very sensitive to showing any sign of weakness, and they are going to have a time issue, where they are going to move into the curiosity factor and get into the weakness factor, and that is something that they don't want to portray at all. And maybe that is something to look out for.

HARRIS: Yes, so what are the players being instructed to do right now? There are some, I know, who are sitting on pins and needles waiting to see if they have to go to the airport, like these -- the situation we're watching here at Fenway Park.

KARP: Yes. They have been having conference calls. They started having them last night, had one this morning, and I think the Red Sox are really the poster child for the fact that this is a fluid situation. It is changing, and you can't be told exactly what to do until you know that that deal is done. So, I think it is a good sign that we don't know exactly what is happening. If there is a report that a deal is done, it hasn't reached the Boston Red Sox yet.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And Josie, I wonder if -- we have got this live picture coming out of Boston. We don't have a live picture out of Chicago, or at least at Wrigley Field, but if, say, at Wrigley Field, game time is somewhere in the 3:00 hour, if that would still be on tap, about now would players start making their way to the field at about this hour, typically?

KARP: Under normal situations they sure would. You want to get there. The clubhouse opens three and a half hours before a game starts, and I have been up all night, so help me with my time here. I know it is 3:20 on the East coast, so a little before noon, and we still got an hour to play with them right now before it would be the time when you would expect the players would be filling up that clubhouse.

HARRIS: Yes, since you mentioned that...

KARP: Yes.

HARRIS: ... why don't we go to Wrigley Park right now. Jeff Flock is standing by outside there, and we saw a while ago, he was talking to someone, lonely lady who was sitting on the curb trying to get tickets -- what does it look like now, Jeff?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we just came across the street to talk to the folks at the souvenir shop over here. Of course, these are the guys who would be impacted on a strike. They are talking about hearing reports that there is good news, but you said you feel like you are being held hostage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do. I feel like I am being held hostage and don't have any control of the situation. And I wish they would hurry up and make up their minds. This is crazy.

FLOCK: In order for there to be a game out here today, they need to announce that fairly quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, yes, because otherwise, you know, I don't know. At this point, I don't know if anybody is going to come down here. Driving down here, there was not a lot of traffic, and you could see on the corners, where all the workers usually stand...

FLOCK: Not as much activity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was nobody, and there is really not a lot of activity now.

FLOCK: OK. We are going to keep watching it. Thank you. I'll be back -- of course, I will be back later in the day.

The other point is you asking about -- as we cross traffic here, sorry, across a busy Clark (ph) Street, about players arriving. We have seen Bruce Kimm, who is the Cubs' manager. He arrived in the lot just a bit ago, so that a good sign, although he would be here anyway. He is part of management, so he is not affected by the thing.

I have got another guy here who I was talking to earlier -- hey, Jace (ph), you just bought tickets, by the way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did. I am very optimistic that the game will go on today.

FLOCK: You told me that you live nearby, and you were what, listening to television and hearing positive things?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was watching ESPN it looks like the owners and the players are going to come to an agreement, so I took day off work, and I want to make advantage of it, so I came over and purchased a bleacher ticket today.

FLOCK: All right. Well, in the future, you might want to watch CNN, but at any rate, you are feeling confident, and that is reason you came down?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is. I feel very confident that the game will go on today.

FLOCK: Leon, just to orient you here, off beyond Jace (ph) here in the back is the player's parking lot, so we should be in a position to where we are going to see that sort of thing, and to leave you with an image, perhaps it is the open ticket window. They continue to sell seats, and I asked the lady, she said we have got a lot of good seats.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

FLOCK: Perhaps there were some people who were pessimistic about today, not buying in advance, and you know, day of game tickets available on a Friday, a beautiful Friday afternoon, that is unheard of in Chicago, even late in the season...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Wow.

HARRIS: That is true. That is a very good point. WHITFIELD: Jeff, I have got a question for you. You pointed to the direction of where the players would start rolling in. Typically, at about what time might they be doing that? Josie thought, maybe perhaps this would be the hour, but what kind of sign of life are you seeing back there?

FLOCK: I think she is right on. It would be about the hour, and again Bruce Kimm, one of the first to be arriving anyway. And so, he is there. The lot -- you can't see from our perspective right here, but it is off in the back. I don't see any player activity in it as we speak, but a lot of empty spots for the cars, so -- we ought to be seeing that activity quickly, I think, unless, of course, they are waiting to hear the official word, and it is unclear how the players are communicating in all of this. They have been doing conference calls, but clearly they are not doing one right now. So how soon they are going to be able to get the word out from Joe Girardi, the Cubs' player rep to all of the players about what their next move ought to be, that is unclear at the moment.

HARRIS: Let me ask you something else, Jeff. In the last couple of days, you have been taking a close look at the ancillary things that happen around baseball, the people who are going to get hurt on the outside of this, like the vendor you just spoke with there.

Is there any way to gauge just how money may be at stake for people like that?

FLOCK: Is there any -- say the very end, I am sorry about the...

HARRIS: Yes, I can tell it is a typical morning in Chicago, hear the sirens there.

But is there any way to gauge how much money that people who are on the periphery of this debate right now are going to be -- they stand to lose? You have got the vendors that you talked to there across the street who are selling shirts and whatnot, the people who work inside the stadium, the guys that work inside the clubhouse. Any way to gauge how much money -- may be at stake for the people like that?

FLOCK: Everything is different, but if Jeff (ph) was able to spin around, you see one -- for example, a guy who operates a bar, like the Cubby Bear Lounge, you see right over on that corner. Jeff (ph), that pole is in your way, I hope it is not. That is a very popular bar right on the corner outside the ballpark. Any time there is a game, he puts a ton of temporary workers on. So if you get a strike, those guys are out of a job, he -- Jim Murphy (ph), who runs Murphy's bleachers up on the other side, back behind where the bleachers are. He said 90 percent of his business goes away on the day of a game if there is not a game. They just pack the place, and you know, it is a bar that is open anyway, but they make a lot more money when there is a game, and really, that is their Christmas for a retailer. That is their Christmas, the season, the regular season.

HARRIS: And there is thousands and thousands of people in that same situation, and they waiting for these millionaires to finish arguing with the billionaires.

WHITFIELD: Yes, there is a whole lot at stake, and of course, very angry fans out there, saying you know what, I am folding my arms. If they end up striking, then I don't want anything to do with the game, but we talked about that earlier. We have seen that before. A lot of them end up coming back, but we've been kind of gauging the sentiments of fans through our e-mail system, and we've been received a whole lot and want to take a look at a couple right now.

HARRIS: Yes, Jeff, we'll let you go for a quick second while we check out these e-mails.

FLOCK: OK.

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