LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- With a strike deadline looming, President Bush's spokesman said Thursday that baseball's owners and players should consider the impact a work stoppage would have as America commemorates the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The owners and players need to keep in mind not only what a strike would do to the future of baseball, but also what it would to America during a time of national unity and national spirit,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said after talking with Bush about the potential strike.

Earlier, he said the White House was not getting involved in major league baseball's labor dispute.

"This is something the players and owners need to resolve,'' McClellan said.

The president made his personal fortune as former managing partner of the Texas Rangers and still follows the game closely. Earlier this month, he said he would be furious if the players and owners could not save the season.

Then-President Bill Clinton intervened during the 1994-95 strike.

Just after the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service got involved at the outset of that walkout, Clinton circumvented the agency and got players and owners to agree to use former Labor Secretary W.J. Usery as a mediator.

That strategy failed, and players returned to work only after a federal judge issued an injunction restoring the rules of the previous contract.