Outside the ballparks, umpires were walking picket lines. Inside the meeting room, there was a little movement.
Locked-out major league umpires received a proposal from management Thursday, but said there still was a long way to go to resolve their contract dispute before the regular season starts April 25."My gut feeling is they'll open up the season without us and go a week or 10 days into the season," said NL umpire Eric Gregg, on the picket line outside the Atlanta-Montreal game in West Palm Beach, Fla.
"After the players and fans start complaining, then they'll see a need to get it done. If everything goes smoothly when the replacement umpires are there, we could be out longer," he said.
Crews comprised of former major and minor league umpires, plus college and high school amateurs, handled the replacement exhibitions. A similar group is calling the spring-training games played by regular major leaguers.
"All the players want the regular umpires out there," Don Mattingly said in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where umpires picketed the night game between the New York Yankees and New York Mets.
Replacement crews have been lined up to work on opening day on April 25.
"I wouldn't say at this point that it's dim the regular umpires will be in place when the season starts, but time has been a critical factor," said Bob Opalka, an associate of umpires union head Richie Phillips.
Neither side detailed the owners' latest offer.
"I would say the gap is just too wide right now," Opalka said.
No further meetings are scheduled.
In December, teams offered a no-lockout, no-strike agreement, but owners refused and teams withdrew the offer.
"We would consider it and we've told them that, but it's formally off the table," management lawyer Robert Kheel said. "There would be a lot of issues that have to be addressed. I'd like to see it resolved, but they have got to make a substantial move."
The umpires are seeking a 53 percent pay increase, down from their initial request of 60 percent, during a four-year period. They also want to double their postseason pool, about $20,000 per umpire in many cases, because of the increase in playoff games.
Owners originally proposed a cost-of-living raise for four years. That would've amounted to a 2.7 percent increase this year.
The umpires' four-year contract expired Dec. 31. They were paid for the remainder of 1994 after the players went on strike Aug. 12.
In 1991, the umpires staged a brief walkout that ended just hours before the season opener. Replacements working every game on opening day except one.
Opalka said it was possible umpires could picket the start of the regular season if there's no agreement.
"It's something we've done before and it was has been mentioned," he said.
In Florida, seven NL umpires and four AL umpires were on the sidewalk outside Municipal Stadium in West Palm Beach, Fla., carrying signs that read "Umpires Locked Out."
"It's an informational-type picket. Baseball is back, but it's not all the way back without the real umpires," Gregg said. "We don't have a strike fund, but what we do have is solidarity, and that goes a long way," he said.
Those same umpires picketed Thursday night's game between the Mets and Yankees.
Umpires also formed a picket line outside Phoenix Municipal Stadium for the game between the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics.