Copying the NHL's success

Idiots.

Reading about the new N.H.L. labor agreement, baseball owners are envious. "Why can't we do that?" they are asking themselves and each other. If they are ready to kill their sport and their business, they could emulate the N.H.L. and try. But they may want to wait and see if the N.H.L. recovers before beginning their own cap crusade.

Baseball owners who were there know how painful the recovery was after the 1994-95 strike, which caused the cancellation of the World Series, something neither world war did. Nevertheless, despite the devastation that followed the lengthy work stoppage, some owners will be emboldened by the N.H.L. experience.

Forget the way baseball has flourished in recent seasons. Forget that the current economic system, with revenue sharing and a luxury tax, is working. When the current collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 19, 2006, some owners will want to replace it with a new system, starting with a payroll cap.

Chass thinks wiser heads -- including (and I can't believe I'm writing his name in the same sentence with "wiser") Bud Selig's -- will prevail. One thing's for sure, baseball owners won't be dealing with hockey players if they try something like that.