Atlantic City Press - March 27, 1980

Schmidt Belts 3rd and 4th Homers As Phils Nip Mets

ST PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Mike Schmidt hit his third and fourth home runs of spring training and knocked in six runs Wednesday to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 9-8 exhibition baseball victory over the New York Mets. 

Schmidt's homers, a two-run shot in the first inning and a three-run clout in the third, came off Juan Berenguer, who now has a spring training earned run average of 21.00. Later, Schmidt hit a sacrifice fly. 

The Phils’ winning run was scored in the eighth inning by former Met Bud Harrelson, who doubled and came home on Bake McBride's single. Steve Henderson had a double and a single and drove in four runs for the Mets.

Players Claim Strike Likely

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Players Association director Marvin Miller said he saw no reason for optimism as negotiations reopened Wednesday on a new basic agreement between major league baseball players and owners. 

Players who met with Miller shortly before the session opened indicated that a strike is likely.

‘‘It's been pretty much decided we’ll have to take some sort of strike action. The question is when,” said Gary Lavelle, the player representative of the San Francisco Giants.

The Giants and the Cleveland Indians met jointly with Miller Wednesday and then voted unanimously to authorize a strike on or after April 1. 

A meeting of player representatives is scheduled for April 1 in Dallas to decide on a course of action if no agreement is reached by then. 

The chief negotiator for club owners, Ray Grebey, refused comment on the growing support for a strike among players but said he saw no reason why the season couldn't begin even without a new agreement. 

The major issue keeping the owners and players apart is the question of free agent compensation, Lavelle said. 

The owners want a team that loses a highly sought free agent to be able to select a player from the free agent’s new team as compensation. 

Under the proposal, the free agent’s new team would be allowed to protect 15 players on its roster, and players argue that few teams would be willing to sacrifice their 16th best player in order to sign a free agent. 

Also in question is the amount of time a player must serve before he can opt for free agency. The owners had wanted to keep it at the current six years, but players prefer a four-year minimum. 

A compromise of five years remains under discussion.

Other major items vet to be resolved: 

— Whether a player with four years of service or less should be restricted to a one-year contract. 

— Whether an arbitrator should give extra weight to a player's time and service, rather than to performance, when ruling on a salary dispute. 

— Whether players should receive a percentage of baseball's television revenues, estimated at about $180 million this year, according to Garland.

The two sides have met about 30 times in trying to reach a four-year agreement to replace the one they made in 1976. That pact expired at the end of last year.