Baseball Strike 1994Steinbrenner's remarks show crack in owner's armor
Baseball Strike 1994
(c) Copyright The News & Observer Publishing Co., 1994
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner says management's argument of competitive balance problems "doesn't wash" and insists owners be allowed at the bargaining table.
Steinbrenner's statements, first reported Thursday by The Philadelphia Inquirer, directly contradict the assertions made to players by management negotiator Richard Ravitch. But he said later in the day he wasn't breaking ranks with other owners.
"Look at Montreal," the Inquirer quoted Steinbrenner as saying at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night. "The best record in baseball is the team with the second-lowest payroll. So you can shoot that theory right in the butt. Look at Minnesota, they've won twice since we won. He's got to get off that argument. It doesn't wash."
Ravitch repeated Wednesday that owners don't need a salary cap because of inability to pay but because they forsee growing competitive balance problems between large- and small-market clubs.
"Maybe they just don't support baseball in Montreal," Steinbrenner was quoted as saying in Friday's editions of The New York Times. "In that context, it's like any good business. Year after year if your store doesn't get customers, you move it or you close it."
Ravitch also said owners had taken the position they wouldn't be allowed at bargaining sessions. None have appeared so far.
"We must get ownership to the table," Steinbrenner was quoted as saying. "We must get people to the table who have considerable financial interest in the game -- personal financial interest in the game. Not a bunch of lawyers who are the only ones that are going to make money out of the strike."
Eugene Orza, the union's associate general counsel, agreed with Steinbrenner's analysis.
"He's never made an observation with greater accuracy than that one," Orza said. "It's bingo. ... The gap between the lawyers and the equity interest of the owners demands that the owners come to the negotiating table."
Steinbrenner said his remarks weren't inconsistent with management's bargaining position. Asked why he hasn't been more vocal, Steinbrenner told the Times:
"Bud Selig is leading this ship. I've got enough on my plate. I'm tired of the harpooning and hits he's taking. My interests are being represented. I do not intend to show any split in this group."
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