Major League Baseball, umpires reach 5-year deal

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball and its umpires have reached an agreement on a five-year labor contract running through December 2014.

The sides worked into Tuesday evening to reach the deal and announced it Wednesday morning.

Owners and the World Umpires Association hope to ratify the agreement next month. Owners meet Jan. 14 in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the umpires hold their annual gathering a few days later.

Management has been seeking to gain increased flexibility on postseason assignments as part of the agreement, which could allow umpires to work the World Series in consecutive seasons. Following a series of missed calls during the playoffs, MLB went with an all veteran crew of six umpires in this year's World Series.

This marks the second straight agreement between the sides reached without acrimony. In September 1999, 22 umpires lost their jobs as part of a failed mass resignation ahead of bargaining. Half of them were eventually rehired.

Joe West, rehired in 2002, replaced John Hirschbeck as WUA president in February. The WUA took over as the bargaining representative before the 2000 season, replacing Richie Phillips' Major League Umpires Association, which was headed by Jerry Crawford.