Butts Talks to Beathard, But Says He’ll Hold Out : Football: Charger running back still seeking contract renegotiation.

After a face-to-face meeting with Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard at training camp Monday, Marion Butts refused to blink.

“If nothing else happens,” said Mike Merkow, Butts’ agent, “Marion’s made it real clear to me, he’s going to hold out.”

Butts, the team’s leading rusher last season, is due to report to UCSD Wednesday evening, but has indicated he will not show up for practice until he receives more money from the team. He will be fined $1,500 for each day of camp he misses.

“You have to do what you have to do,” Butts said. “I made my decision. You just have to make your decisions and stick by them.”

Coach Dan Henning, however, said that he expected Butts to report on time.

“Marion, I believe, he’ll be here Wednesday,” Henning said. “He’ll come in, he’ll want a little kiss, and then he’ll go to work.

“I’m not kissing Merkow; I might kiss Butts, but I’m not kissing Merkow. I draw the line until Merkow can gain 100 yards in a game, I’m not kissing him.”

While Henning remains optimistic, Butts appears confused. After meeting with Beathard, Butts left reporters befuddled.

“What we’re doing is not appropriate,” Butts said. “You want to get on the winning track, you need to go ahead and get organized. By holding out, by missing practice and doing this and that, the only thing you’re doing is you’re hurting yourself and the team. So I feel regardless if anyone is holding out, if you can get everybody there on time, it can really make a difference.”

So, Butts was asked, did that mean he will report on time?

Not necessarily, he said. “You just have to keep pounding at things,” Butts said. “It’s like you kick a wall enough times and it will fall. If you just hit it one time and turn around and leave, you’re not accomplishing anything. So that’s what you have to do, keep pounding, keep trying.”

And what happens if that wall refuses to fall?

“If the wall doesn’t fall down, you have two standing individuals,” he said. “You have a chance to make your own decision. Conquer the wall or turn around and go the other way. That’s the way it is.”

Is there a translator in the house?

“We’re hoping this isn’t the Chargers’ final position,” Merkow said. “No one profits from this. The Chargers will be without their top running back and by the same token Marion won’t be earning a living.”

Butts said he wanted the Chargers to know he wasn’t “isolating” himself from the team. He said the Chargers have his phone number, and said, “I stay home all day, every day listening for the telephone, and I can’t recall him (Henning) calling. Maybe right after minicamp or before summer school, but that’s it.”

Henning bristled when told of Butts’ comments. He said he’s been trying to get in touch with Butts for weeks. “Does he know the thing works both ways? I mean you can call out as well as you can receive. That’s the way AT&T; works.”

Butts finished third in the league in rushing last season despite missing the final two games, and Merkow said his client deserves to be rewarded.

“He has a very hard time understanding that he’s the fourth-highest paid running back on the team,” Merkow said. “Ronnie Harmon makes over $500,000, Rod Bernstine is somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000, and Eric Bieniemy, when he gets signed, his average on what he’s going to take in on a signing bonus and base salary will be more than what Marion will see.”

Butts received a new contract from the Chargers last season and earned $417,500 in base salary, bonuses and incentives last season. He will reportedly receive a base salary of $225,000 this season, and has three years remaining on his contract.

“We’re willing to do something,” Merkow said. “We gave Bobby some alternatives to consider.”

Butts and Merkow hold out hope that Beathard will reconsider and renegotiate. It appears, however, that San Diego will probably get 40 days and 40 nights of rain before Beathard makes such a move.

After reading the comments of Butts’ attorney, George Schultz, in The Times Monday morning, Beathard called Merkow and canceled Monday’s scheduled meeting with Butts.

Merkow came to UCSD Monday morning to sign fourth-round pick Yancey Thigpen, and then pleaded for Beathard to reconsider. He told Beathard that Schultz would not be in attendance.

Beathard agreed, and the meeting was rescheduled for later in the day.

“We won’t renegotiate,” Beathard said after talking with Butts and Merkow. “I wasn’t very optimistic before and I’m not very optimistic now. I didn’t ask if he was going to be here, nor did he give me any indication that he was going to be here.

“If his decision is not to come in, it’s not that the Chargers won and Marion lost. We both lose in that case. If he decides to come in, I certainly don’t look at it that the Chargers won, we beat the guy down. That’s not our intent. I would look at it that it’s a decision he made and that he feels it’s important to play football.”

Charger Notes

The Chargers practiced twice Monday, but after the morning workout, punter Ruben Rodriguez and linebacker Joaquin Barnett were released.

The club needed to make room for Thigpen and safety Floyd Fields, who signed contracts.

The team’s top-round pick, safety Stanley Richard, and a trio of second-round choices remain unsigned. Beathard also continues to negotiate with representatives for veteran free agents’ Broderick Thompson (tackle), David Richards (guards) and George Hinkle (defensive end).