Reading Eagle - March 31, 1980

No Progress

 

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) – Strike two or play ball?

 

That question will almost certainly be answered in Dallas Tuesday, but a bet on at least the setting of a strike date by major league baseball players is as safe as a wager on Spectacular Bid.

 

Representatives of the Players Association and team owners met for more than nine hours Sunday with Ken Moffett, deputy director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.  And, in the word of the union’s executive director, Marvin Miller, “nothing happened.”

 

The Players Association’s executive board will meet in Dallas Tuesday to determine when and if a strike will be called.  The “if” no longer seems to apply.

 

“This was a complete waste of time,” Miller said of Sunday’s meeting with the owners.  “There isn’t the slightest basis for their calling the mediation service with no intention of negotiating or listening to our viewpoint.

 

 

“This entire day was spent on the owners’ demands, nothing on the players’ proposal.

Phils Cut Four

 

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) – The Philadelphia Phillies have cut four players to reduce their roster to 32, seven above the 25-man limit for opening day April 11, the National League team said.

 

Catcher Don McCormack, infielder John Poff and pitcher Paul Thormodsgard were sent to the Phillies’ minor league complex for further assignment, the Phillies said Saturday.

 

Pitcher Burke Suter, who was drafted from the Boston Red Sox’ Triple-A farm team in Pawtucket, R.I. during the winter meetings, was also dropped from the squad.

 

Under baseball rules, the Phillies must offer Suter back to Boston for half the $25,000 winter draft price they paid.  If the Red Sox don’t want Suter back, the Phillies can assign him to one of their minor league teams.

Red Sox Get Rader

 

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (UPI) – The Boston Red Sox, desperately looking for catching help, today acquired journeyman backstop Dave Rader from the Philadelphia Phillies for cash or a player to be named later.

 

Rader, 31, has a lifetime average of .253 in eight major league seasons.  The Red Sox will be his fifth club in the last five years.

 

In his major league career, the left-handed hitting Rader has belted 27 homers.  He was a No. 1 draft choice of San Francisco in 1967 and played for the Giants from 1972-1975.

 

He was traded to St. Louis in 1976, to the Chicago Cubs in 1977 and to the Phillies before the start of the 1979 season.  Last year, he appeared in 31 games for Philadelphia, hitting .204 with one homer and five RBIs.

 

General Manager Haywood Sullivan indicated the club was not finished in its search for catching help.

 

“We’re always looking,” he said.  “We may not be through yet.”