Players Fail to Set Strike Date
CHICAGO (AP) - Baseball players backed off setting a strike date on Monday, and delayed making a decision until Friday.
Players said they saw enough progress so that they hoped an agreement could be completed by Friday.
Atlanta's Tom Glavine, a member of the union's executive board, said players are prepared to give the negotiating process "every chance to succeed."
"We feel like there's a window of opportunity to get something done in the next several days and we're willing to explore that," he said following a 3-hour meeting of the board.
Union head Donald Fehr said: "You establish a date when you believe it is essential to reach an agreement, bearing in mind that a strike is the last thing the players want. And we are not at that point yet."
Fehr and commissioner Bud Selig spoke by telephone.
"We discussed the progress of bargaining and what the current situation was," Fehr said.
Negotiators planned to resume talks Tuesday in New York. Last week, the sides agreed on a $100,000 raise in the minimum salary to $300,000 and agreed to mandatory testing for steroids.
But the sides still are apart on the key issues of increased sharing of local revenue among the 30 teams and management's desire for a luxury tax on high-payroll clubs.
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