Owners fiddle while baseball burns

Sporting News, The, Sept 19, 1994 by Peter Pascarelli

As the season and baseball's immediate future drifted toward oblivion, it became clear once and for all that pushing this criis was the desire of many owners to bust the hated players union.

The Major League Players Association hardly has been blameless. Players have become too much the idealogues who see conspiracy in any suggested change. At the same time, the union's proposal last week represented a real effort to generate negotiations and contained what would have been significant givebacks.

But as the talks appeared poised for progress, Bud Selig swooped in from Milwaukee and helped kill off the hope. And the way in which the controlling group of owners dismissed the proposal without any attempt at negotiation revealed much about their real motives. The players made their proposal only after much consultation with dealmaking owners John Harrington and Jerry McMorris, and there was genuine hope on both sides that the union initiative had the potential to form a framework for negotiations. Unfortunately, the deal-makers don't control baseball.

What's so hard to understand is how people who have done very well in life because of baseball are so willing to crush the game into an unrecognizable mess.

Selig is but one example. He can thank baseball for the $1 million he makes each year as acting commissioner -- and the civic standing he has in Wisconsin. Yet, the game is on the brink of utter ruin under his watch.

How can such owners as Philadelphia's Bill Giles, the Dodgers' Peter O'Malley and the Busch family in St. Louis -- whose family names have been linked with the game for nearly a half-century -- stand by and let this disaster continue to unfold?

How can Peter Angelos and Peter Magowan, laden with debt service from their purchases of the Orioles and Giants, afford to stand by and watch the game disappear? How can Richard Jacobs see what the Indians and their new stadium have done for human spirit in Cleveland -- and yet acquiesce in this nowin war against the players?

How can Wayne Huizenga in Florida and Mike Ilitch in Detroit get away with the obvious conflict of interest of maintaining a hard line in baseball talks so as to aid the same strategy in the NHL, where they own teams? And how about Ted Turner, whose superstation was built largely by the combination of cable growth and baseball? How about Tribune Co., which is more than happy to reap the profits from owning the broadcast rights to seven clubs -- but which now washes its hands of any responsibility for a course of action that will do so much damage to the product that makes those broadcast rights so valuable?

Maybe when you're not a millionaire or billionaire, you can't understand the thinking of one. But the Lords of Baseball are in the process of killing the game that brought them more wealth. It will be hard to find people other than owners who see logic in that.

Big job

New President Andy MacPhail has a massive job ahead in rebuilding the Cubs' thin talent pool as well as creating some morale in an organization that has been rendered joyless during the reign of General Manager Larry Himes, who for now still holds the title.

But MacPhail's exit leaves a huge hole in a Twins organization in which MacPhail, along with Manager Tom Kelly, has been the driving force for nearly a decade. There is no obvious heir to MacPhail, and it likely will be difficult to attract a top G.M. candidate from outside.

Owner Carl Pohlad rarely has had a hand in the Twins' baseball decisions, other than putting limits on spending. and Pohlad, one of the really hard-line owners in the union dispute, has been trying to sell his club for two years. The value of his and all franchises is likely to plummet as the crisis continues, making it difficult for Pohlad to find a buyer.

MacPhail gave the Twins great baseball credibility, making key moves that helped the club to World Series titles in 1987 and '91. Now the franchise faces the unknown without its guiding force.

Minor movement

The only show in town has been the minor leagues, where some interesting things were happening.

For one thing, there has been a rush to re-sign many working agreements between major league clubs and minor league affiliates. The agreement between the majors and the National Association expires next year. That, along with the uncertainty over baseball's antitrust exemption, has created a cloud over many of the affiliate agreements with the many profitable minor league franchises.

Among the more interesting franchise changes was the announcement that the Indians had swooped in and signed a working agreement with Buffalo (American Association), the highest-drawing minor league franchise. Buffalo ownership had wearied of trying to market losing products provided by Pittsburgh, its former affiliate, which now must shop for a new Triple-A location. The Indians left their International League arrangement in Charlotte, which did not draw well but is also close to building a new stadium. Cleveland was affiliated with Buffalo twice in the 1980s. In 1983 and '84, the Bisons were the Indians' Double-A farm club. In 1987, Buffalo was their Triple-A team.