PHILADELPHIA -- For 22 umpires, baseball's final message to them Wednesday was: "Yer out!"

	Frank Pulli pretends to eject Cardinals coach Rene Lachemann before calling his final game Wednesday.

Effective Thursday, 22 of baseball's 68 umpires will lose their jobs, stemming from their union's failed attempt earlier this summer to try to force an early start to negotiations for a new labor contract.

The umpires' union couldn't prevent their terminations but reached an agreement with baseball Wednesday night that guarantees their full pay and benefits for the rest of the year and their right to try to win their jobs back in arbitration.

Meanwhile, ESPN has learned that Major League Baseball had four amateur umpires on standby at each stadium hosting a game Wednesday in case the umpires walked off the job.

In addition to their concessions to the 22 umpires leaving baseball, owners agreed that all umpires on staff as of Friday -- there will be 71 of them -- are entitled to a postseason bonus, an amount that totals $1.42 million for 71 umpires.

In exchange, the umpires dropped their court fight and unfair labor practice charges against baseball.

"We think that it's a shame for baseball," said umpires union head Richie Phillips. "Baseball will suffer from the loss of these enormously talented people that the commissioner's office has arbitrarily determined to hurt."

Twenty-five umpires who were hired by baseball in July will become permanent employees starting Thursday. Many of them have been vacation fill-ins from the minor leagues.

"I guess they want to send a message that they don't care," Phillips said of baseball's owners. "They don't care about the quality of umpires. They don't care about all that experience not going on the field."

	UMPIRES WHO LOST OUT
	American League Drew Coble, Jim Evans, Dale Ford, Rich Garcia, Ed Hickox, Mark Johnson, Ken Kaiser, Greg Kosc, Larry McCoy. National League Gary Darling, Bob Davidson, Bruce Dreckman, Eric Gregg, Tom Hallion, Bill Hohn, Sam Holbrook, Paul Nauert, Larry Poncino, Frank Pulli, Terry Tata, Larry Vanover, Joe West.

The 22 umpires will be out of work as of 6 a.m. ET Thursday.

"The resignations will stand and the new umpires are permanent employees," said commissioner Bud Selig. "We are proud to have them on board."

American League umpire Mark Johnson had tears in his eyes as he walked out of the courtroom of U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner, who had mediated the deal. It took 16 hours of talks between lawyers for baseball and the umpires' union to produce the agreement.

"I'm disappointed, but there's still light at the end of the tunnel," he said. "There are still other options and roads we can try to follow to try to work this out."

The arbitration process will take several months at a minimum, meaning there's no way the 22 will be back this year.

Union president Jerry Crawford said the umpires accepted the deal because it is "the best we can come up with."

"We still have the 22 guys' lives on the line," Crawford said. "It gives us a chance and fight another day."

Richie Garcia, one of the game's most respected umpires who also will lose his job, said the union did not consult with the rest of the affected umps about the deal.

"Unfortunately, there wasn't any time. The lawyers come in, say this is what they've got. You have 15 minutes to decide," the AL umpire said.

Among those also losing their jobs are NL crew chiefs Frank Pulli and Terry Tata; the NL's Eric Gregg, known for his 300-pound-plus frame; and Joe West, disliked by some players for his aggressive and sometimes combative attitude.

Baseball spokesman Rich Levin said the deal would cost owners an additional $500,000 beyond what the umpires' labor contract called for. The union, however, must obtain a $100,000 bond and refund that amount if it loses the arbitration.

On July 14, the union announced 57 umps were quitting, effective Sept. 2. They said then they feared a lockout and wanted to spark an early start to negotiations for a labor contract to replace the one that expires Dec. 31.

But the plan collapsed when 27 umps, mostly in the AL, either failed to resign or quickly rescinded their resignations. Baseball then hired 25 umps from the minor leagues and accepted 22 resignations.

The union conceded that the 22 umps, whose resignations were accepted by the American and National leagues last month, have umpired their final games this season.

In management's view, their departures are permanent. In the union's view, they'll only be gone until an arbitrator orders them rehired with back pay.

The postseason money was a key issue for the umpires. Some management lawyers had argued that the 22 being terminated could be denied those bonuses.

Under their labor agreement, each umpire gets an annual $20,000 postseason bonus, whether they work postseason games or not.

Wednesday's deal allows individual umpires to forgo the payment and give it to the union.

The umpires' bitterness toward baseball was still evident after the agreement was reached.

They claimed that when talks recessed Tuesday night, the sides had agreed that any of the 22 umps could work the rest of the year at Selig's discretion.

"They took that off the table this morning," said umpires' lawyer Susan Davis.

Selig acknowledged making the change but said it wasn't significant.

"There was no reason to put it in because they weren't going to work any more," Selig said.

Umpires sued Monday, hoping to get an injunction that would keep the 22 at work. Curtis scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, but instead pushed the sides to work out a deal.