[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 101 (Tuesday, July 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7231-S7232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENTE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 130--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT 
 THE FEDERAL MEDIATION AND CONCILIATION SERVICE SHOULD EXERT ITS BEST 
EFFORTS TO CAUSE THE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION AND THE 
 OWNERS OF THE TEAMS OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT 
 TO CONTINUE TO PLAY PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL GAMES WITHOUT ENGAGING IN A 
  STRIKE, A LOCKOUT OR ANY COERCIVE CONDUCT THAT INTERFERES WITH THE 
            PLAYING OF SCHEDULED PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL GAMES

  Mr. MILLER submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

                            S. Con Res. 130

       Whereas major league baseball is a national institution and 
     is commonly referred to as ``the national pastime'';
       Whereas major league baseball and its players played a 
     critical role in restoring America's spirit following the 
     tragic events of September 11, 2001;
       Whereas major league baseball players are role models to 
     millions of young Americans; and
       Whereas while the financial issues involved in this current 
     labor negotiation are significant, they pale in comparison to 
     the damage that will be caused by a strike or work stoppage: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the 
     Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, on its own motion 
     and in accordance with section 203(b) of the Labor Management 
     Relations Act, 1947 (29 U.S.C. 173(b)), should immediately--
       (1) proffer its services to the Major League Baseball 
     Players Association and the owners of the teams of Major 
     League Baseball to resolve labor contract disputes relating 
     to entering into a collective bargaining agreement; and
       (2) use its best efforts to bring the parties to agree to 
     such contract without engaging in a strike, a lockout, or any 
     other coercion that interferes with the playing of scheduled 
     professional baseball games.

  Mr. MILLER. Mr. President, today I share with my colleagues a 
resolution that calls on the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service 
to exert its best efforts to cause the Major League Baseball Players 
Association and the owners of the teams of Major League Baseball to 
enter into a contract to continue to play professional baseball games 
without engaging in any coercive conduct that interferes with the 
playing of scheduled professional baseball games.
  Folks don't agree on much around this place. But, I think we can all 
agree that baseball as we've known it, is in deep trouble.
  Billion dollar owners and multi-million dollar players refusing to 
come together and do what's right for the game.
  Steroid use rampant, according to an article in Sports Illustrated.
  And the best Senator Dorgan could get out of a June hearing from the 
Players Association Executive Director was for him to say ``We'll have 
a frank and open discussion'' on the topic.
  But the big problem is that the player's labor contract expired last 
year and the negotiations on a new deal are going nowhere.
  There have been eight different labor agreements and each time there 
was a work stoppage.
  The last time the owners and players tried to renew their contract 
back in 1994, it took a 232-day shutdown of the game, including 
canceling the World Series for the first time in 90 years, to finally 
get an agreement.
  Hall of Famer and U.S. Senator Jim Bunning has an op-ed piece in this 
morning's New York Times. He writes, ``The last strike nearly killed 
the game. I am afraid the next one will.''
  There are many problems. Only five out of thirty teams made a profit 
last season. That means 25 ended up in the red. The extreme ran from 
the Yankees collecting $217.8 million and the Montreal Expos $9.8 
million.
  The average player today, the average player, makes more than $2 
million a year.

[[Page S7232]]

  Ever since Abner Doubleday invented the game, a game is played until 
one team wins. That was part of the enchantment of the game: 
theoretically it could go on forever. Unless, that is, a commissioner 
calls it off and goes to dinner.
  Ever since baseball was declared as entertainment instead of a 
business in a 1922 Supreme Court decision that gave the owners 
exemptions from laws against collusion and other monopolistic 
activities, we have probably been headed to this day. These anti-trust 
exemptions give owners tremendous power and any proposals to change it, 
like Rep. John Conyers tried to do not too long ago, have gone nowhere.
  And, we're not proposing that today, I'm not even sure I'm for that. 
I happen to think that it would kill the minor leagues.
  And right now, these 160 teams are playing some of the purest 
baseball being played today.
  So what do we do? Here's how I see it.
  What would any of us do if we saw a loved one, someone you grew up 
with and loved like a member of your family, with a pistol in his hand, 
loaded with the safety off and aimed at their temple?
  What if you had only a few seconds before that close personal friend 
blew his brains out? I'd try to stop him. And I think you would too. 
I'd lurch for the pistol and try to take it away from him by whatever 
force necessary. I'd do just about anything to save his life.
  I could go on with this analogy, but I think you get the picture.
  For sixty summers I've followed the game of baseball. I live for the 
early days of February when the catchers and pitchers report for spring 
training.
  And when the World Series ends in the late fall, I might as well be 
hibernating in a cave during the winter, or serving in the Senate, 
because my life is so empty.
  But, I digress. Back to saving the life of that good friend about to 
blow his brains out.
  That's what this resolution attempts to do.
  Its purpose is to inject the Federal Government, with all its 
persuasive powers, into this dispute. Hopefully, with the end result of 
preventing the baseball players from striking and shutting down major 
league baseball.
  I want to save this game for those who love it as I do and for those 
who will come after us. I do not want to see our national pastime 
become our national once-upon-a-time.

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