CHICAGO -- Omar Vizquel walked into the Cleveland Indians' clubhouse with a big smile on his face and hugs for everyone he saw.

	Jesus Ojito felt like a winner at Friday's Marlins-Pirates game.

"Oh, boy, 30 more days of playing ball,'' the Indians shortstop said. "Great!''

Omar, you might have just spoken for baseball fans all over the country -- players, owners and regular folks alike.

While there might be some grumbling for a week or two, most fans were happy to hear Friday that baseball had finally reached a labor agreement without a work stoppage.

Within minutes of the announcement, fans and players flocked to the ballparks, eager to forget all about the latest wranglings and focus on what's good in baseball this year. And no one was pitching foul balls at the players.

"Now that it's done, it's a great opportunity for fans around the country to rally around the game of baseball,'' said Gregg Zaun, Houston's player representative.

There's plenty to celebrate, especially this season.

There's a thrilling playoff race in the AL West, where only four games separated Oakland, Anaheim and Seattle. The former contraction candidate Minnesota Twins have a magic number instead of an expiration date after running through the AL Central.

And how about Barry Bonds, who hit his 600th homer earlier this month? Or Sammy Sosa, who is seven homers shy of 500?

"I'm sick of hearing of revenue sharing and luxury taxes and thresholds,'' said San Diego player representative Kevin Jarvis. "I mean, I want to hear about home runs and balls and strikes and that kind of thing, and I think the average fan does, too.''

Most fans didn't understand, let alone care, about the differences between owners and players that almost led to baseball's ninth work stoppage in 30 years. All they knew was that millionaires and billionaires were squabbling, and the national pastime was in jeopardy -- again.

Signs with messages like "You Strike, We Hike,'' popped up at ballparks across the country, and fans in Anaheim tossed foul balls and debris onto the field Thursday night.

"We need to really reach out to them,'' said Cubs player representative Joe Girardi, who then apologized to fans "that they had to go through this.''

But the fans are a forgiving bunch. Todd Terrill, his father and his grandfather climbed into their car before dawn on Friday morning to make the five-hour trip from St. Louis to Wrigley Field without even knowing if there would be a game.

"If they hadn't gotten it settled, I guess we would have turned the car around and gone back home,'' Terrill said. "Now it's over, and I don't want to think about it any more.''

There was steady traffic at the three ticket windows open at Wrigley before the settlement was announced, with fans buying tickets for this weekend's Cardinals-Cubs series. And when the gates opened, there was the usual sprint for the prime autograph-getting spots, with kids hanging over the wall to get players' attention.

In Arizona, the Diamondbacks sold 2,500 tickets for this weekend's games against San Francisco in the two hours after the settlement was announced. A sellout was on hand Friday night to watch Randy Johnson try for his 20th victory, but the fans left disappointed after the Giants' 7-6 victory.

In Oakland, Calif., fans waited outside the Twins' hotel for autographs. At Shea Stadium, where the Philadelphia Phillies played the New York Mets, one fan brought a sign that read, "Our Pastime: Priceless. The Fans Thank You.''

And in Cleveland, 12-year-old Eli Kliekunas stopped for a look at Jacobs Field as he headed home to Evanston, Ill., from a baseball tournament in New York.

"I'm glad. I'm really, really glad,'' said Eli, who is too young to remember when the World Series was canceled in 1994. "I love watching my baseball team.''

But players know they've got some making up to do, too. There were empty seats for the Cardinals-Cubs game Friday afternoon, usually an automatic sellout. There were no signs bashing players and owners, but there weren't any thanking them, either.

"A whole bunch of people almost lost their jobs over something going on in New York. And if that doesn't make you feel small, I don't know what does,'' said Cliff Odle, a vendor Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

The players and owners have four years now to prove to fans that they really meant it when they said they hope this new agreement will be the end of baseball's labor woes.

"The bottom line is the fans want to see us play. And they don't care about the labor stuff that goes on,'' said Damion Easley, Detroit's player representative.

"You're talking about a lot of money that we make, that the game makes. They just want to see us play baseball. They don't want to hear about us bickering over this and that.''