Major-league owners and general managers were more resigned than shocked when they learned of the Albert Belle contract Tuesday.
Belle's five-year, $55 million deal set a new level: an average of $11 million annually.
''This isn't going to help,'' Baltimore general manager Pat Gillick said. ''We have passed into another plateau, beyond seven-digit numbers.''
The contract will resonate throughout the game and will no doubt be a topic at an owners meeting, tentatively scheduled for Tuesday in Chicago.
Interim commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday night it's possible the meeting would be the week after Thanksgiving.
Labor is expected to be the main focus, and if there is no agreement with the players union, the owners must cancel interleague play for 1997. They'll also discuss whether revenue sharing among clubs can be achieved without a labor deal.
Philadelphia Phillies president Bill Giles was amazed by Belle's deal: ''With the economics of the industry, I was taken back. It was a stunner.''
The impact will surely be felt in salaries for the game's elite players, who will use the contract as a yardstick for negotiations or arbitration.
The Florida Marlins had been in the running for Belle's power-hitting services.
''I'm surprised at the amount,'' general manager David Dombrowski says. ''People will do what they must, but we were not interested in that (fiscal) neighborhood.''
The Arizona Diamondbacks were interested even though the expansion team won't begin play until 1998.
''He was scheduled to be in Phoenix, but that was canceled for a number of reasons,'' team chairman Jerry Colangelo said Tuesday.
Dombrowski is uncertain what impact the contract will have on others.
''I'm sure there will be ramifications in future years,'' he said. ''Only time will tell.''
There will be no ramifications for John Smoltz, the premier pitching free agent, says Braves general manager John Schuerholz.
''Hitters and pitchers occupy a different universe,'' Schuerholz says. ''You always differentiate between hitters and pitchers because pitchers are more vulnerable to injury. Still, the way things are going, you never know.''
Published Nov. 20, 1996.
