NEW YORK -- Major league baseball players announced they will strike Aug. 12 unless they have a new collective bargaining agreement that does not include any limits on players' salaries.


Barring a dramatic breakthrough in negotiations, a strike could wipe out the final 52 days of the regular season along with the playoffs and World Series.


"A strike is a last resort," union chief Donald Fehr said Thursday. "No one wants to play more than the players."


"I regret the union has shown this kind of disregard for the fan," said Richard Ravitch, chief negotiator for the owners, after the union announcement. "As I've said before, collective bargaining disagreements get resolved only by people sitting down and bargaining."


The owners say any new agreement must include a ceiling on player spending -- player salaries now average $1.2 million a year -- or some other method to allow them to fix labor costs. According to the owners 19 teams are losing money and small-market clubs such as Pittsburgh and Montreal can no longer be competitive. The players, noting that baseball is coming off a record revenue of $1.8 billion last season, say that if there are problems with the small-market clubs, the large-market clubs should increase their own revenue sharing before putting a cap on player spending.


Sources on both sides have suggested the strike could extend well into the 1995 season. Fehr said players decided on the Aug. 12 strike instead of a date later in the season because there had been no progress in negotiations and they hoped that setting a quick date would make the owners realize the players are unified and serious. By going out early, the players are allowing enough time for a resolution that would save postseason play.