Reading Eagle - May 23, 1980

Aguayo Shipped

 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Infielder Luis Aguayo was reinstated from the disabled list by the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday and optioned to their Oklahoma City farm club, the National League team announced.

 

Aguayo, 21, made the Phillies roster in spring training as a backup middle infielder.  He appeared in 13 games, batting .270, with one home run and one RBI.

 

He strained his right thigh on May 4 and was placed on the disabled list three days later.

 

Last season, Aguayo hit .273 for Oklahoma City.

 

The roster move leaves the Phillies with 24 players, one under the limit.

Baseball Crisis Ends

 

NEW YORK (AP) – Baseball’s longest night has resulted in a settlement of the lingering contract dispute between players and management and averted a strike which threatened unprecedented interruption of the major league season.

 

Marvin Miller, executive director of the union, and Ray Grebey, chief negotiator for the 26 owners, struggled through a marathon day and night of negotiations, finally hammering out an agreement in a seven-hour wrap-up session.

 

Terms were not discussed immediately because the settlement must be presented to the Players Association’s Executive Board and membership for ratification.  Neither party would comment on the final disposition of the difficult free-agent compensation issue, the major stumbling block throughout the talks.

 

“We’ve reached an agreement for four years,” said Grebey.  “We think it’s a good one.  There’s something in it for everybody.”

 

A source close to the club owners told The Associated Press the agreement gives owners compensation on the free agent issue similar to what they wanted but that it doesn’t take effect in 1980.

 

Bob Boone of the Philadelphia Phillies, National League player representative, said by telephone that there was an understanding on the free-agency issue but that it wouldn’t happen this year.

 

Boone also said he was surprised by the agreement.  “Last week I lost interest in the whole thing,” he said.  “I saw no way (of reaching an agreement).  Actually Thursday morning I was relaxed, just sitting around and waiting for the inevitable.”

 

Miller called the settlement a victory for both sides.  “That’s what collective bargaining means,” the union chief said.  “What you reach an agreement without a strike, it’s a great victory for everybody concerned.”

 

The settlement means today’s games will be played as scheduled.  Grebey said only one team might have transportation problems but that he expected the schedule to be followed.

 

“It’s a good deal all around,” said Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who made his first appearance in the talks.  “There was a lot of honest goodwill all around.  The parties worked hard at it.  I’m ecstatic.”

 

This mutual victory was not easy to achieve and several times as the final day of negotiations stretched into night, it seemed a strike was inevitable.

 

The crisis atmosphere began at 10 a.m., EDT, Thursday when Miller and his negotiating team, which included attorneys Dick Moss, Don Fehr and Peter Rose, arrived for talks.  The management team was one hour late, setting a patter which was followed throughout the day.  Grebey and the owners’ negotiators were also close to an hour late for an afternoon meeting and a half hour late for the final night session.  Miller was clearly annoyed by management’s tardiness throughout the day.

 

1st Meeting Short

 

The first meeting between the two sides lasted only 1 hour, 25 minutes, from 11:15 in the morning to 12:40.  When Grebey and his people left the midtown hotel where talks were held, they seemed downcast.

 

“Right now, things don’t look so good,” said Lee MacPhail, president of the American League.

 

 He might have been even more disheartened if he had heard what Miller had to say at that point.

 

“There has been a lack of good faith (in the bargaining) from beginning to end,” Miller said.

 

What could prevent a strike, he was asked.

 

“It would take a small miracle,” Miller snapped.

 

Start at 4

 

The afternoon session was set to start at 4 p.m.  Again Miller arrived on time and again the owners’ committee was late, arriving just before 5 p.m.  One hour later, Grebey and his negotiating team left again and David Vaughn, counsel for Moffett, reported that a recess had been declared.  Vaughn added that there was no guarantee that the two sides would meet in joint talks again that night, and it was at that point that the situation seemed bleakest.

 

Miller then left the hotel and met at another site informally with Grebey.  At 9:30 p.m., he returned for more talks and confirmed the session with the owners’ negotiator.

 

“We met off the record with each other,” he said.  “There was no note taking.  It was an exploratory talk.  I have no feeling one way or the other about it.”

 

Then Miller was asked if the strike deadline still stood.

 

“There’s no reason to stop the clock,” he said.  “We need an agreement.”

 

Thirty minutes later, at 10 p.m., Grebey’s team returned to the hotel, again a half hour late for a scheduled meeting with Miller.  “We’re still working away,” the veteran labor negotiator said.

 

This time, they kept on working.

 

Talks Continued

 

As Thursday night’s games ended one by one, the talks continued on the 17th floor of the midtown hotel.  Finally, the last game was completed at about 11:45 p.m. and the possibility still existed that the strike would be declared.

 

The first indication of a break came at 2:20 in the morning when Moffett and Vaughn arrived to report that the two sides were still bargaining and that progress had been made.  Moffett said he thought they might have a statement in about an hour.

 

Grebey’s party then team left the hotel and walked a few blocks to American League headquarters where they met with a committee of management people, including members of the Player Relations Committee and Executive Council, and presented terms of a tentative agreement.

 

Meeting with the league presidents and Grebey were Haywood Sullivan of the Boston Red Sox, Peter O’Malley of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dan Galbreath of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bow Howsam of the Cincinnati Reds, Clark Griffith of the Minnesota Twins, Joe Burke of the Kansas City Royals and Commissioner Kuhn.  A half hour later, the negotiators returned to the hotel, and 90 minutes after that the deal was sealed.

 

The settlement provides a new collective bargaining agreement, with improvements in minimum salaries and pensions among other items.

 

The key issue throughout was the clubs’ demand for a system of free agent compensation, allowing teams losing a “premium” free agent to receive a replacement.