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Umps reach agreement to leave baseball leagues

Associated Press Arizona Daily Wildcat National League umpire Terry Tata, left, wipes his face as he officiates his last career game while Los Angeles Dodgers' Eric Young warms up. Baseball and umpires reached a deal last night in which the 22 umpires will lose their jobs and the union will withdraw its lawsuit in exchange for $1.36 million in postseason bonus payments, full pay and benefits for the rest of the season, and management's acceptance of arbitration in the dispute.

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - For 22 umpires, baseball's final message to them yesterday was: "Yer out!"

Baseball and umpires reached a deal last night in which the 22 umpires will lose their jobs and the union will withdraw its lawsuit in exchange for $1.36 million in postseason bonus payments, full pay and benefits for the rest of the season, and management's acceptance of arbitration in the dispute. The settlement is subject to future arbitration proceeding.

The 25 umpires hired by the American and National Leagues will begin their new permanent assignments today.

"The 22 resignations stand," commissioner Bud Selig said. "The new umpires are permanent employees. The new umpires have all done well in their recent major league assignments and will continue to do well in the future. We are proud to have them on board."

As part of the arrangement, the leagues will pay the 22 umpires whose resignations were accepted an amount equal to the salary and benefits they would have earned over the last month of the season.

However, this amount will constitute an advance of termination pay that may be due to umpires in connection with their resignations according to the league.

"We think that it's a shame for baseball," said umpires union head Richie Phillips. "Baseball will suffer from the loss of these enormously talented people that the commissioner's office has arbitrarily determined to hurt."

American League umpire Mark Johnson had tears in his eyes as he walked out of the courtroom of U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner, who had mediated the deal.

Richie Garcia, one of the game's most respected umpires who also will lose his job, said the union did not consult with the rest of the affected umpires about the deal.

"Unfortunately, there wasn't any time. The lawyers come in, say this is what they've got. You have 15 minutes to decide," the AL umpire said.

Joyner had imposed a gag order on the lawyers involved in the negotiations, but the terms were confirmed by two officials in baseball who were not at the talks and spoke on the condition that they not be identified. Both officials were updated repeatedly from the talks throughout the day.

The union conceded that the 22 umpires, whose resignations were accepted by the American and National leagues last month, have umpired their final games.

In management's view, their departures are permanent. In the union's view, they'll only be gone until an arbitrator orders them rehired with back pay.

Normally, the arbitration process takes several months at a minimum, meaning there's no way the 22 will be back this year.

The postseason money was a key issue for the umpires. Under their labor agreement, each umpire gets an annual $20,000 postseason bonus, whether they work postseason games or not. Multiplied by 68 major league umpires, it would come to $1.36 million - money the union could divide as it pleased.

Umpires sued Monday, hoping to get an injunction that would keep the 22 at work. Curtis scheduled a hearing for Tuesday but instead, pushed the sides to work out a compromise. After seven hours of discussions, the talks resumed yesterday.

As part of the deal, the umpires' union withdrew its unfair labor practice charge filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

The deal means nearly one-third of the 68 permanent major league umpires will be out of work as of this morning. Also among them are NL crew chiefs Frank Pulli and Terry Tata; the NL's Eric Gregg, known for his 300-pound-plus frame; and Joe West, disliked by some players for his aggressive and sometimes combative attitude.

In the eyes of many in baseball, the umpires brought this upon themselves. On July 14, the union announced 57 umpires were quitting, effective Sept. 2. They said then, that they feared a lockout and wanted to spark an early start to negotiations for a labor contract to replace the one that expires Dec. 31.

But the plan collapsed when 27 umpires, mostly in the AL, either failed to resign or quickly rescinded their resignations. Baseball then hired 25 umpires from the minor leagues and accepted 22 resignations.