BASEBALL Umpires still hope for reinstatement

Ten umpires from the failed mass resignation three years ago are still out of work.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
With 10 umpires, including Richie Garcia and Eric Gregg, still out of work since their failed mass resignation three years ago, lawyers argued their fates Monday before a federal appeals court.
Umpires have asked the court to order baseball to rehire the 10, and baseball has asked the court whether it must give back pay to five umpires already brought back in a partial settlement.
Last December, a federal judge ordered baseball to rehire nine of the 22 umpires who lost their jobs in September 1999 following a failed mass resignation, and the judge ordered new arbitration hearings for three others.
In a partial settlement last February, baseball rehired five umps and allowed four to retire with back pay. Three more umps were brought back in August.
The lawyers were allotted twice the standard time to argue before a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"In my 32 years of practicing law, I've never had a case that has left me more confused," said Chief Judge Edward R. Becker, who heard the case along with Judges Jane R. Roth and D. Brooks Smith.
Richie Phillips' Major League Umpires Association called for the mass resignation in July 1999 as a bargaining tactic. The move backfired when baseball accepted the resignations and hired new umpires to replace them that September. Phillps' union was then replaced by a new union led by umps who opposed the mass resignations.
Hidalgo works out
Astros outfielder Richard Hidalgo worked out Monday for the first time since getting shot more than two weeks ago during a carjacking attempt in his home country of Venezuela.
"I thought it was going to be bad, but right now it's perfect and I feel good," Hidalgo said.
Team doctors gave Hidalgo clearance to work out Friday. After the shooting, Hidalgo said he had numbness in his little finger and ring finger and weakness in the fingers and hand area, but said he now feels fine.
Tellem to start Matsui talks
Hideki Matsui's agent is ready to start negotiations with major league teams.
The three-time Japanese Central League MVP formally signed a deal Monday to be represented by Tellem.
Tellem met with Matsui in Osaka and planned to return to the United States on Monday to start talks with teams on a deal for the outfielder.