Play ball! MLB players reach deal, salvage 162-game season

By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball’s acrimonious players and owners ended their most bitter money fight in a quarter-century when a divided players’ association accepted management’s offer to salvage a 162-game season that will start April 7. On the 99th day of a lockout that delayed spring training and threatened to cancel regular-season games for the first time since 1995, the players’ executive board approved a five-year contract at about 3 p.m. in a 28-12 vote. Owners ratified the deal 30-0 just three hours later, and the lockout was lifted at 7 p.m., ending baseball’s ninth work stoppage.