1 President Clinton, unable to bring the two sides together himself, will ask Congress for emergency legislation for binding arbitration to end the six-month-old American Major League baseball strike.
2 'We're going to send it up tomorrow and I'd like to have it considered expeditiously,' Clinton said at a hastily called news conference Tuesday night after participating in hours of behind-closed-door negotiations at the White House.
3 Clinton said he had been optimistic earlier in the evening that he might be able to announce a settlement, or at least steps toward one, that would assure 'that baseball was coming back in 1995.'
4 'Unfortunately, the parties have not reached agreement; the American people are the real losers,' he said.
5 There has been virtually no movement since the strike began Aug. 12., forcing cancellation of the championship World Series for the first time in 90 years.
6 Players, trying to preserve decades of gains that have pushed their average salary to nearly dlrs 1.2 million, walked out to fight off owners' demand for a limit on each team's salary.
7 'Clearly they are not capable of settling this strike without an umpire,' Clinton said. 'The only way to do this appears to be for Congress to step up to the plate and pass the legislation.'
8 Earlier Tuesday, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill discouraged Clinton from turning to Congress for a solution. And after hearing the president's plan, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich said they were still reluctant to step into the dispute.
9 'The president has apparently thrown the ball into Congress' court. We maintain our view that Congress is ill suited to resolving private labor disputes,' Dole and Gingrich said in a joint statement.
10 Both Republicans said they wanted to hear personally from mediator W.J. Usery why the talks broke down.
11 'I know that people in Congress say they have other pressing business, and they certainly do .,' Clinton said. 'I regret very much having to send this legislation there, but spring training is just nine days away and I think many Americans consider this pressing.'
12 Usery met separately with owners and players during the day in one last attempt at a settlement. But that backfired and players said they felt 'betrayed' by Usery's recommendation for a luxury tax plan, two sources close to the union told The Associated Press.
13 Owners plan to start spring training next week with replacement players, a move the Clinton administration opposes.
14 When the negotiators' arrived at the White House on Tuesday, it was clear how far apart they were. Even though the sides were sitting together in the Cabinet room, they still wouldn't speak to each other.
15 'They did not do much conversation with each other. They addressed their remarks to each other through either the vice president or through the president,' White House spokesman Mike McCurry said.

Clinton said he had been optimistic earlier in the evening that he might be able to announce a settlement , or at least steps toward one , that would assure " that baseball was coming back in 1995 . "
was coming back in 1995
did baseball end up coming back?