Union could set strike date next week

NEW YORK -- With little evidence of progress toward a labor contract, baseball players could set a strike date as early as next week to pressure owners into making a deal.

The strike date is expected to fall between mid-August and mid-September. Before one can be set, however, the union's executive board must approve it. So far, no board meeting has been scheduled, but on Monday union head Donald Fehr said, "That decision will be made shortly."

Three sources familiar with the union's deliberations said the meeting could take place next week. The sources spoke on condition they not be identified.

Negotiations focused on revenue sharing when they resumed Monday, a day after commissioner Bud Selig and Fehr met privately in Cooperstown during Hall of Fame festivities. Talks were to continue Tuesday.

Rob Manfred, the owners' top labor lawyer, wouldn't predict what affect a deadline would have on the talks, which began in January.

"It depends on where we are in the process, how far off the date is," he said. "I've been careful on this strike-date issue," he said. "That is fundamentally a union decision. I'm not going to get speculating on what they should and should not decide."

Taking control

By setting a strike deadline, the union would control the timing of a work stoppage.

"Don Fehr knows what's in our best interests," Boston outfielder Johnny Damon said. "He's afraid that if the strike date is not set, there could be a possibly longer work stoppage because we'd be locked out, and the players won't come back if the owners set up their own set of rules.

"So if there was a strike, there would definitely be a much shorter work stoppage than if there was a lockout," Damon said.

The old labor contract expired Nov. 7, three days after the World Series. A stoppage would be baseball's ninth since 1972.