Baseball Labor Talks Hit Stall, No Date Set For Next Meeting

With Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf opposed to giving players service time, momentum toward a baseball labor deal came to a halt Tuesday.

Union head Donald Fehr and management negotiator Randy Levine didn’t meet at all Tuesday.

Levine spent the day in his office and spoke by phone with about a dozen owners.

“We’re anxiously waiting,” said Fehr, unsure when the next meeting will take place.

According to two owners who spoke on condition they not be identified, it appears most teams would support a deal giving players service time for the 75 regular-season days wiped out by the 1994-95 strike if the union releases teams from legal damages they may have caused during the walkout.

Several owners and management officials, all speaking on the condition they not be identified, said Reinsdorf was opposed to that tradeoff and some said he was trying to get other teams to support his position.

If service time is granted, White Sox pitcher Alex Fernandez and catcher Chad Kreuter would become eligible for free agency after this season.

Union officials repeatedly have said there will not be a deal unless players get service time.