Donald Fehr

NEW YORK -- Ever since the NBA agreed to a salary cap in 1983 and went on to grand success, owners in every other major team sport have eyed the concept with longing.Now, circumstances have brought Major League Baseball and the NHL to the same point at the same time. And at least one person says that may have been the plan."I think, in some demented fashion, Bob Goodenow and Donald Fehr want to bring pro sports to their knees," Washington Capitals general manager David Poile said when he heard that the players had rejected two of the owners' proposals Wednesday.

When the Boston Red Sox rewarded Roger Clemens with baseball's first $5 million a year contract this month, the message was clear.Clear to the 26 baseball owners. Equally clear to the players. But as you'd expect when dealing with two sides that don't agree on anything except the greed of the other, the conclusions they drew were vastly different.To most owners, the Clemens signing proved again that baseball has lost touch with financial reality and is headed for disaster. Without a correction soon, many predict that a few teams, the ones that play in big cities and reap huge sums from their local TV contracts, will sign all the players and win all the pennants.

So, the news is out: The editors at Sports Illustrated have named Cal Ripken their Sportsman of the Year, to be recognized in next week's issue.It's indisputably big news for one of Bawlmer's own, a rare and significant honor that will only add to Ripken's legend.But who else was SI going to pick, Don King?Bud Selig?Art Modell?As much as Ripken is obviously deserving of the honor for breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games record and playing in 2,153 straight games -- "maybe the greatest athletic achievement of our lifetime," Mike Mussina called it -- the rest of the sports world didn't offer much competition in 1995.

And now, a word from a starving union man:"Lenny Dykstra loves baseball. Lenny Dykstra is fortunate to be playing in the major leagues. Lenny Dykstra wants to play baseball in 1995."Lenny Dykstra is a dope, but never mind.He's a big-leaguer in the '90s. He speaks in the third person. He acts dumb and dumber. And he quite enjoys the lifestyle of the rich and famous, thank you very much.The picket line?It's just something for Lenny to blast through in his sports car come April.Lenny, Jose Canseco or one of the other oppressed laborers.

You're Bud Selig, and Peter Angelos says on Page 1A of today's Sun that your role in trying to forge a labor settlement is "beyond my comprehension."You add it to your little list.The list is long, and getting longer. And when major-league baseball gets the chance to put a team in Northern Virginia, it might come in handy.Selig can use it to remind the owners of the time Angelos said a salary cap was only an "interim" solution.The time he rewrote their resolution canceling the season.The time he refused to attend an antitrust hearing in Washington, then found time to do lunch with Darth Vader -- er, Donald Fehr -- two days later.

WASHINGTON - Donald Fehr, chief of the Major League Baseball Players Association, defended his union's stance on drug testing during a congressional hearing yesterday, even as Sen. John McCain threatened to legislate solutions for doping. One of several sports leaders appearing before the Senate Commerce Committee headed by McCain, Fehr said baseball players shouldn't be prohibited from using products legally available to the public and challenged Congress to ban performance-enhancing substances such as androstenedione.

NEW YORK -- This was supposed to be Opening Day, but it appears that everything about the 1995 baseball season -- including the actual day that regular season games will begin -- remains open to question.Baseball owners decided yesterday to cancel tonight's replacement opener between the New York Mets and Florida Marlins, and it became apparent last night that teams already are beginning to disband replacement rosters.The Associated Press, citing an unnamed source, reported late last night that the players and owners had tentatively agreed to start the season on Wednesday, April 26, if there isn't a lockout.

News of the dayRepresentatives of the two sides held three bargaining sessions on two different matters but made no progress on the salary cap, the key issue.Games lostFourteen games were canceled yesterday. The total number missed is 385.Quote"I think we're just playing out the string." -- Union director Donald Fehr

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- The Major League Baseball Players Association is considering filing grievances against the Los Angeles Dodgers and California Angels on behalf of Brett Butler and Chili Davis, union chief Donald Fehr said yesterday.The Dodgers offered Butler a one-year, $3.5 million contract in January, then told him a week before the strike ended that the offer was off the table.Agents Tom Reich and Adam Katz negotiated a three-year contract for about $11.25 million for Davis, but the Angels announced last week that the offer no longer existed.