Dodgers Up, Down and Then Go Out

ATLANTA — After waiting through a day of uncertainty, confusion and intermittent hope, player representative Mike Scioscia told his Dodger teammates late Tuesday night to make plans to go home.

Within minutes, Mike Marshall and Steve Sax were on their way to the airport to catch a red-eye flight back to Los Angeles. Most Dodger players and management personnel made arrangements to depart here this morning, a day after the major league players went on strike.

“Realistically, we can’t be expected to be kept on a string,” said Scioscia, after receiving a telephone call from Mark Belanger of the Major League Players Assn. just before 10 p.m. EDT Tuesday, informing him that the talks between the union and the major league owners would not produce a settlement that night.

The Dodger game today with the Braves in Atlanta would be canceled, Scioscia said, just as Tuesday’s game was wiped out by the strike.

Earlier in the day, Scioscia had given a similar directive to the Dodgers from the union to go home, only to rescind that directive after receiving a message from Dodger owner Peter O’Malley, who was in New York for the negotiations.

In that message, conveyed to Scioscia by Dodger publicist Toby Zwikel around 5 p.m., O’Malley expressed optimism that a settlement would be reached.

According to Scioscia, O’Malley said he felt there was a “60-40 chance” of a settlement when talks resumed that afternoon at 5:30. After consulting by phone with Belanger in New York, Scioscia began calling players back, telling them to stay in Atlanta in the event that a settlement would be reached, and today’s game with the Braves would be played.

But when talks recessed Tuesday night, Scioscia said that Belanger “told us to go home, that he couldn’t foresee anything coming.

“Mark said he didn’t know where the reports of optimism were coming, but obviously it was from the owners’ side,” Scioscia said, “which made him optimistic that something could happen in the next round (of negotiations).

“They (the union) kept us here to accommodate the owners, that by staying we were hoping five more hours would help. It was something we felt we should do, to wait and see if they’d settle it. . . .

“But I think it’s gone far enough, as far as us waiting. There’s no way that we’re going to wait until tomorrow.”

It was his understanding, Scioscia said, that there had been “some movement” on the issue of pension money, but the issue of arbitration remained “a stickler.”

“We have a strong union,” Scioscia said. “There’s some things we can’t bend to.” Particularly, he said, the owners’ proposal to impose a ceiling of 100% of a player’s salary in arbitration cases.

Around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, Dodger players had begun gathering in Room 1743 of the Atlanta Hilton, from where Scioscia was awaiting word from the union.

While Scioscia spent most of his time fielding telephone calls from teammates, friends and the media, he also played cards with Orel Hershiser, Rick Honeycutt and Tom Niedenfuer and waited to hear if they would be reporting to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium that night. They watched TV and waited. They ate pizza and waited.

The first bit of hopeful news came from Marshall, who spoke to his father, Frank, in Chicago at about 1 p.m. “My dad just told me Dallas Green (the vice president of the Cubs) said on TV that he was fairly optimistic and that several clubs were telling their players to report,” Marshall said.

Jay Johnstone, who commuted between Scioscia’s room and the swimming pool, cracked: “There goes the strike insurance I took out. That really ticks me off.”

Around 2:30, Zwikel said he had spoken to O’Malley. “He’s optimistic from the standpoint that talks are still going on,” said Zwikel, adding that traveling secretary Billy DeLury had been instructed to await further word from O’Malley that afternoon before following through on plans to leave Atlanta that night.

Around 3, when Sax called to inquire about the progress of talks, Scioscia told him solemnly: “(Donald) Fehr and (Lee) MacPhail just got in a fistfight.” Marshall assured a shaken Sax that Scioscia probably was kidding.

A little later, a reporter came in and told the gathering that Met players had gone back to New York from Montreal. “This is a mess, isn’t it,” Marshall muttered.

It would become even messier after the players received word of a United Press International bulletin that declared the strike was on. That was at 3:50 p.m. Twenty minutes later, Scioscia got off the phone with union counsel Eugene Orza and said: “We can go home.”

Dave Anderson walked into Scioscia’s room shortly thereafter. “That’s (bleep), and you can print it,” Anderson said.

“Ninety-five percent of the guys felt there wouldn’t be a strike. Even today, most of the guys were pretty relaxed--they thought it would be taken care of. It’s a big shock to me.”

Said Steve Yeager, who got word in the hotel coffee shop: “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

Shortly after 5 p.m., a reporter called Manager Tom Lasorda for his reaction. “I’m very, very sad, very, very low,” Lasorda said. “I don’t know how this could happen. This is not a good day for baseball.”

Lasorda said he didn’t know what he’d do during a strike. He joked about going on a diet, then in a more serious vein said he’d probably check up on the Dodger farm teams. “I’ll wait to hear what Al (Campanis) wants me to do,” he said.

Five minutes later, Lasorda called the reporter back. “We’re staying,” he shouted.

Many of the nonplaying personnel--broadcasters, trainers, and coaches--already had boarded the bus to the airport when word was received that O’Malley had requested that they stay the night.

Scioscia said he was able to contact all players before anyone had left, including Pedro Guerrero, who planned to fly home to the Dominican Republic. Later, Scioscia and several teammates dined on room service shrimp and soup, sent up and paid for by Lasorda.

Shortly after 10, Scioscia came into the hallway to brief reporters. “It’s impossible to play tomorrow unless a miracle happens in the next hour,” Scioscia said wearily.

Asked to sum up his feelings on a day--like the nine months that preceded it--which had failed to bring the owners and players to terms, Scioscia said: “It’s kind of frustrating, but I still have a hopeful feeling that they’ll be able to settle this thing.”

The waiting, however, apparently has just begun.