WASHINGTON - Commissioner Bud Selig told U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Wednesday that a proposal will be made within a month about Negro Leagues players left out of the sport's pension fund.
Selig met with the Florida Democrat, who has lobbied baseball for two years about the matter. Nelson wants baseball to find a way to include the black players who do not qualify under guidelines established when the pension fund was expanded in 1997.
"This is an important step toward solving a terrible inequity," said Nelson, who estimates about 120 Negro Leaguers aren't covered. "These are some guys who really need and deserve help."
The 1997 agreement established annual pensions of $7,500 to $10,000 for players who spent four years or more in the majors and Negro Leagues combined, with at least a day in the majors, after the color barrier was broken in 1947.
