Mlb Owners, Reich Meet

Baseball owners took their case to Capitol Hill and Labor Secretary Robert Reich in an effort to prevent lawmakers from eliminating the sport’s antitrust exemption.

Acting commissioner Bud Selig and Colorado Rockies chairman Jerry McMorris met for nearly an hour with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They later briefed Reich on efforts to end the strike, which enters its sixth month Thursday.

Owners imposed a salary cap Dec. 23, a day after breaking off negotiations. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., wants Hatch to call renewed hearings on the antitrust exemption, which was created by a 1922 Supreme Court decision.