Owners unanimously ratify umpire contract, which would loosen restrictions

Owners unanimously ratify umpire contract

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — Baseball owners unanimously ratified a five-year contract with umpires on Thursday, wrapping up a decade of labor peace in a sport once plagued by work stoppages.

The deal would remove a ban on umpires appearing in consecutive World Series, according to a person with knowledge of the agreement. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because umpires had yet to vote on the pact.

Umpires are expected to ratify the deal on Monday.

Ending the World Series restriction would allow the best umpires to work those games in repeated seasons.

Baseball has not had a serious labor problem since 1999, when a dispute led to mass resignation by umpires, with 22 of them losing their jobs. There has been no works stoppage in the sport since 1994.