The Owners
BY
RC
This is not an in depth study into each owner, but rather a thumbnail sketch of each one with some basic information. Each one of these men deserves more scrutiny and perhaps in time I will tackle a few in more in greater depth. You will notice, that few of them inherit their wealth, most created their own wealth. Many did not go to or finish college, most of them will stay married to their original wife and many served in the military. Some of these men are hard core Democrats but most are hard core Republicans and few go both ways. On the whole I was quite impressed with most of these men and I believe they are generally decent people. There are a few I could do with out and this will become clear in a few editorial comments I make regarding each owner. Finally, American League owners on the whole are far better on average than the National League owner. The quality of persona and commitment to winning is not as great with National League owners as American League and I think this will become clear. Recently Sports Illustrated had an article about the superiority of the American League over the National League and I think I know why. I have for years believed the most important component of any team is the owner and knowing the owner allows us to understand why some teams perpetually fail and owners win.
We are also only interested in individuals that own teams and not corporations. We will also tackle the Monforts as a stand-alone project at a later date.
Baltimore Orioles
The principle owner of this team is Peter Angelos. After failed runs at the state senate and mayor of Baltimore in the early 60's he became one of the most feared and successful plaintiff’s litigation lawyers in the country. He led the charge in the tobacco class action suits and his firm has made about $1 billion in fees from those suits. His firm is also reported to have made more than $100 million in suits against asbestos companies and his firm still handles these cases. He sues manufacturers of lead paint, diet drug fen-phen and he even has a client who reportedly got brain cancer from cell phone usage. So while he is allegedly helping all of the world's victims and the oppressed we shudder to think how many little people are out of work thanks to his handy work.
He bought the Orioles in 1993 for a mere $173 million. He has become notable for organizing a game with Cuba and then refusing to sign Cuban defectors. Like all good liberals he is a lover of Fidel Castro. During the 2000 presidential campaign he was the 7th largest contributor to political campaigns and he gave 100% of his money that amounted to $959,500 directly to Democrats. All of this information comes from the Mother Jones magazine that is a very socialist oriented magazine.
One could spend many hours writing about this guy but he appears to be universally loathed and he appears to run Baltimore like it's his own personal fiefdom. Google his name and read on if you like but after reading about this guy I can now understand why never wins. He can only win when he fixes the rules to suit him, i.e. tobacco and asbestos suites. Don't forget he threatened many lawsuits in an attempt to prevent the Nationals from going to Washington D.C. This owner is a net bad for baseball.
Boston Red Sox
The principal owner of this club is John W. Henry who made his money as a commodities fund manager and speculator. He never graduated from college but studied philosophy while there. Before that he was a soy bean farmer who studied futures trading and by 1980 he was a full time speculator. He invented a very successul method for trading and owns a high profile money management firm. His first professional baseball team was the Tucson Toros, a Triple-A minor league baseball team. He's owned a little bit of the Yankees, a larger piece of the Florida Marlins and now the principle owner of the Red Sox. His ownership group bought the Red Sox for the staggering amount of $700 million. He also is not your normal owner, he knows baseball, stats and stat guru Bill James. It is no wonder the Red Sox won a world series. The man is a very good owner.
New York Yankees:
George Steinbrenner stands alone as perhaps the most successful owner in all of professional sports. He and some investors bought the team from CBS for the ridiculous price of $10 million.
With a background in football and basketball, Steinbrenner spent his early adult years as an assistant football coach at both Northwestern and Purdue Universities and also assembled multiple national champions in the National Industrial and American Basketball leagues. The son of a Great Lakes shipping tycoon, Steinbrenner went on to make his money as chairman of the Cleveland-based firm known as the American Shipbuilding Company.
He is famous for setting a Major League record of his own with seventeen managerial changes in his first seventeen seasons (including Billy Martin who was hired and fired five separate times.) Despite his reputation for wielding a "rapier-like-sword" Steinbrenner always remained true to his franchise's roots by repeatedly hiring "within the family". As a result, most of the coaches and staff members on the payroll were ex-Yankees who clearly understood the day-to-day pressures of putting on the pinstripes and playing in "The House That Ruth Built".
As will be the theme with many of these powerful owners, politics come into play. Steinbrenner was indicted for making illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon and was later found guilty and suspended for two years. His legal problems don't stop there. In 1990, baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent ordered the Yankees owner to resign as the club's general partner and shockingly banned him from the day-to-day operations of the team for life. The ruling came as a direct result of Steinbrenner's $40,000 payment to confessed gambler Howie Spira for damaging information about the since-traded Dave Winfield.
I have a hard determining if this is a good owner or bad. He has helped to destroy parity in baseball but at the same time he makes baseball more entertaining that it other wise would be.
Toronto Blue Jays:
A company called Rogers Communications owns this team. There is no colorful owner to talk about with this team.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays:
What is interesting about this team is that Stuart Sternberg, an extremely successful Wall Street investor, headed a group that bought 48 percent of the team in May 2004 for about $60 million and he eventually become the principal owner. This is a very private man who is only 47 and has two teenage sons and desperately wants to keep them out of the limelight. He is clearly a huge baseball fan who stands in popcorn lines so he can talk to fans. He has also made news for creating the youngest front office in all of baseball. Andrew Friedman, 28, is the director of baseball operations and Matt Silverman, 29, is the club president. He is not a very political owner and gives very little to political causes. He appears to tilt left since he has given a little to John Kerry and John Edwards. There is very little else to say about this man other than we wish him the best of luck.
Chicago White Sox:
Jerry Reinsdorf is the principal owner of this club and he happens to own the Bulls as well. He led a group that purchased the White Sox in 1981 so he is in charge of the 2nd oldest ownership group in MLB. He is famous in Chicago for donating huge amounts of money in charity and leading many charitable organizations as well as developing many down and out sections of Chicago. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on February 25, 1936, Reinsdorf graduated from George Washington University in Washington D.C. and earned a law degree from Northwestern University after moving to Chicago in 1957. Reinsdorf and his wife, Martyl, have four children and seven grandchildren. He made his money in Real Estate, not law and is also not overtly political but does tilt to the right as most of his money goes to Republicans. By all accounts he appears to be a positive good for both baseball and society in general.
Detroit Tigers:
The owner of this team is Michael "Mike" Ilitch. This is a rags to riches story. He was born 1929 and began the Little Caesars Pizza empire in 1959 with one store in Garden City, Michigan. His business expanded to about 4000 stores by 1999. Ilitch invested the fortune he made in his hometown of Detroit. He owns the Detroit Red Wings and he is the sole owner of the Detroit Tigers a team he purchased in 1992. He spends a great deal of time attempting to revitalize the city. Which I might add, he appears to be failing in this endeavor. He is the son of Macedonian immigrants. Ilitch's father, Sotir, worked in the automobile industry as a tool-and-die maker for the Chrysler Corp. After graduation from Cooley High School, the Detroit Tigers professional baseball team offered Ilitch a $5000 bonus to sign. Ilitch requested double that amount, which the Tigers refused to pay. Instead Ilitch spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, from 1948 until 1952, where he played baseball. I note, that he has been married to the same women, Marian for about 50 years and have seven children.
He is listed in the Forbes, 400 wealthiest people in America list with assets over $600 million. Interestingly, he never went to college. By all accounts this appears to be a fine, well-respected and charitable family who appears to be good for baseball. We also note that this owner is a large donator to the Republican party.
Cleveland Indians:
This team is owned by Lawrence J. Dolan opens his wallet annually to support the boys and girls and young men and woman of Cleveland. He was also a bit a player himself and played in Class C and Class D.
Dolan's official title now is the owner, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Indians Baseball Company Limited Partnership. He has acquired all outstanding stock. Dolan also is president and managing partner of Thrasher, Dinsmore & Dolan, A Chardon, Ohio-based law firm.
He has invested his entire life in Cleveland. Dolan received his bachelor's (Arts and Letters, 1955) and law degrees (1956) at the University of Notre Dame. He then served two years (1956-58) as First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. In 1958, Dolan returned to Northeast Ohio, accepting the position of assistant county prosecutor for Geauga County. He leans right as most of his political contributions to Republicans but he does give to local Democrats who will be useful. He does not appear to be overtly political in any way.
For nearly 25 years, Dolan has managed his law firm's practice and professional development. Since 1969, the firm has held the highest professional rating distinction from Martindale Hubbell. Dolan's firm employs 11 lawyers and represents a variety of private, business and governmental clients. He also participates in a variety of business interests and area civic efforts. Dolan and his wife, Eva, of 49 years, also a lawyer, have three sons and three daughters, Mary, Joan, and Carol.
He bought the team in 1999 for $320 million. He is lately receiving bad press for being a cheapskate. His team annually makes money but he does not spend it on players. The city is mad because the small market Twins spend more than the Indians. There are even web sites devoted to listing the "Top Ten Reasons why Larry Dolan is Cheap".
Mr. Dolan appears to be a fine man who owns a MLB team as purely an investment with limited interest in winning. We note that this year he has spent quite a bit more and it shows.
Minnesota Twins:
The owner of this team is Carl R. Pohlad who is yet another, high school grad who went on to become a billionaire on the Forbes 400 list. He is the son of a railway brakeman who quit college to sell used cars. After World War II, he built banking a empire after turning around his brother-in-law's bank in 1955. He is said to have assets of two billion dollars. He bought the team in 1984 for $34 million. He is one of a few very rich owners who is dead set on having the tax payers buy him a new stadium, in spite of the fact that his team actually makes money every year due to a very good fan base in Minnesota. Apparently he is not a popular owner and the people of Minnesota will not buy him a new stadium. He has been widely criticised for both a seeming eagerness to allow the team to be eliminated in league contraction and a failure to spend enough of his immense wealth on improving the team. He has even tried to sell the team to a North Carolina group that promised to move the team if they did not get a government funded stadium. We also note that this owner is a large donator to the Republican Party.
As is the case with so many of these owners he stayed faithful to one wife and family and served in the military. I suspect that this is a good man who sees the baseball team as an investment and not something he should risk his money on. On the flip I can see why the loyal Twins fans would be mad as heck at an owner who has comes grubbing from money but at the same isn't willing to return the favor by spending money to try and finance a winning team. It is hard to say if this guy is good for baseball or not.
Kansas City Royals:
The owner of this team is David Glass who became Owner and Chief Executive Officer of the Kansas City Royals on April 18, 2000 after serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Royals since Sept. 23, 1993. The Board, comprised of Glass and other individuals appointed by Glass, approved his bid of $96 million for the Royals despite the fact that a competing bid by Miles Prentice was 25% higher, at $120 million.
The former President and Chief Executive Officer of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Glass joined the company in 1976. In his position as Executive Vice President of Finance for Wal-Mart Stores, he administered the overall financial and accounting responsibilities of the company prior to his appointment as Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer. He served in that role until 1984 when he was named President and Wal-Mart's Chief Operating Officer. In 1988 he was named Wal-Mart's Chief Executive Officer. He stepped down from the position in January of 2000.
In 1992, NBC news series Dateline interviewed Glass during an investigation into Wal-Mart's "Made in America" and "Bring It Home to the USA" marketing campaigns. The show aired footage of children working in factories in Bangladesh making clothes destined for Wal-Mart, as well as footage of Wal-Mart stores with "Made in America" signs hung over imported goods. When asked about children in Asia working in sweatshop conditions, Glass' reply was "You and I might, perhaps, define children differently," and then said that since Asians are quite short, one can't always tell how old they were. Glass was shown photographs of one factory that burned down with the children still locked inside. He responded, "Yeah...there are tragic things that happen all over the world." Glass stormed out of the interview, which was terminated immediately by Wal-Mart.
During the Major League Baseball strike of 1994-1995, Glass, who was not yet owner of the Royals but chairman of the board administering the team after Ewing Kauffman's death, was one of the most forceful voices in opposing a settlement with the players' union, and supporting the use of "replacement" players, despite a court ruling that Major League owners were in violation of Federal labor laws.
A native of Mountain View, Mo., Glass graduated from Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield and serves as a member of their alumni association. Glass and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of three children, Dan, Don and Dayna. A recurring them with these mega rich owners, one wife for life.
Authors note: The reader may have noticed that this latest item is an important value to me.
By all accounts this is a bad owner and who knows what his motivations are for owning this team. His market is similar to many markets in MLB but he clearly has no interest in fielding a competitive team. I would like to know the other side of the Wal-Mart story but is doesn't look good and I don't feel like conducting the requesite research it would take to possibly exonerate this guy.
In spite of the above, the people of KC have voted to renovate the stadium at tax payer expense and it is thought that this revenue will help. From what I can see, it won't help.
LA Angels:
Arturo Moreno is the first Mexican-American to own a U.S. major league team. Moreno is 56 years old, married, owns part of the Phoenix Suns and is a former minority investor in the Arizona Diamondbacks. According to Forbes magazine, Moreno has an estimated net worth of $940 million. A Vietnam veteran, he graduated from Tucson's University of Arizona. He is truly a self-made billionaire. He and his partner, William Levine, built a company called Outdoor Systems, a billboard company in Phoenix. They eventually sold Outdoor Systems to Infinity Broadcast Corp. for $8.7 billion in stock in 1999. That stock was converted to Viacom stock because of a merger in 2000. In the 2002 Forbes Magazine list of the 400 wealthiest people in America, Moreno was listed as No. 246.
Moreno is expected to have paid around $180 million for the Anaheim Angels when he bought them from Disney in 2003. Disney bought the team for $247 million in 1998 and could not get the team to make a profit. This appears to be a fan friendly owner as he dropped the $6 beer to $4.50. They also dropped other concession prices and they created a family pack where you can buy four hot dogs and a liter of soda with four cups of ice and a big tub of popcorn for $26.
Upon buying the team, he quickly showed his commitment to winning by signing Vladimir Guerrero to a large contract prior to the 2004 season. There are lots of people who make a big deal out of Mr. Moreno's last name but he will state that he is a 4th generation American who does not make a big deal out of his hispanic heritage and he has no desire to do anything but increase fan base in the Los Angeles area.
As with so many of these owners he is still married to his original wife. One thing you can't do is find anything bad to say about this guy. He seems to be a very good man and a good owner. Baseball seems to have improved with the addition of Mr. Moreno.
Seattle Mariners:
Nintendo owns the Seattle Mariners, so there isn't much to say about this owner.
Oakland Athletics:
Lewis Wolff bought the A's in 2005 while heading a limited partnership group and has wasted no time on putting his stamp on one of baseball's most successful and storied franchises.
Upon being introduced as the eighth owner in Athletics franchise history, Wolff extended the contracts of team President Michael Crowley and Vice President and General Manager Billy Beane through the 2008 and 2012 seasons, respectively, and named both executives limited partners in the new ownership group. Wolff remains very active on the baseball side of the organization, where he worked closely with Beane in extending the contracts of Rich Harden, Bobby Crosby, Mark Kotsay and Dan Haren along with the off-season acquisitions of Esteban Loaiza and Milton Bradley.
Stressing the importance of securing a baseball-only venue for the organization in the Bay Area, Wolff introduced a major plan to the city of Oakland and Alameda County for a multi-use, "baseball village" urban development. The exciting concept, which calls for a traditional-looking ballpark surrounded with residential and commercial real estate opportunities, is currently under discussion with local public and private interests. Note that he isn't trying to soak the taxpayers.
Since 1994, the 65-year-old Wolff has emerged from swinging studio-property and California redevelopment deals to buy up many of the ritzier business and spa hotels in the country. These now include the Carlyle in New York, the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and the Fairmont in San Francisco. His outfit, Maritz, Wolff & Co., has a raft of big-name partners and should ring up $600 million this year in sales.
Wolff began his career in real estate economics and appraisal in his hometown of St. Louis, Mo. before relocating to Los Angeles. In addition to his real estate analysis work, he also served as the president of the 20th Century Fox Realty & Development Company where he managed Fox' worldwide real estate activities.
Wolff is a former minority owner of the St. Louis Blues, the Golden State Warriors and the San Jose Missions, a now-defunct minor league baseball team. He owns a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a master's degree in business administration from Washington University in St. Louis and is also a member of the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers (MAI).
Lew resides in the Westwood section of Los Angeles with his wife, Jeane. The Wolff's have three children and two grandchildren.
In the political realm he does not appear to have a political ideology as gives to whatever politician is serving his district. In California it is mostly Democrats so they get most of his money. He has given equally to John Edwards, Kerry, Gore and Bush.
Texas Rangers:
This team is owned by Thomas Hicks who also owns the Dallas Stars hockey franchise. I have also had a brush with this man as I worked an insurance claim at his second home in Aspen, which is comprised of two 6,000 square foot mansions. His house had a moth infestation problem. I also worked with his "people" on the claim and never actually met Mr. Hicks.
Mr. Hicks is 60 years old and he received an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California in 1970 and a B.B.A. from the University of Texas in 1968. He made his fortune in the cable TV business. In 2003 he was ranked #300 on the Forbes list of richest Americans with assets of about $725 million. He is the father of six children and is still married to his original wife, Cinda.
Mr. Hicks is a rock ribbed Republican who is almost on par with Peter Angelos in giving as his company gave $515,000 to the party during the 2000 political campaign. If you Google his name you will find many left wing groups who seek to vilify this man. In this respect he is much like Lewis Wolff.
Mr. Hicks bought this team in 1998 from a group headed by President Bush.
FYI: President Bush's initial investment was $600,000 and he walked away with a cool $15 million. We at Roxhead believe capitalism to be a good thing so we salute President Bush for his success in that deal.
Mr. Hicks also appears to be into charitable giving as we've learned he donated a large plot of land in the Dallas area so that a school could be built. He also gave $1 million to establish endowed scholarship fund at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology in memory of their grandfather, Dr. John H. Hicks, who was a Perkins faculty member for 35 years.
We also note that he built two stadiums, hockey and baseball using his money for about three-quarter's of both projects. We salute any owner who does this kind of thing. It is hard to tell if Mr. Hicks is a good owner or bad, but I don't think he is a bad owner and on the whole he appears to be a very decent person.
Atlanta Braves:
AOL Time Warner owns this team. Ted Turner has little to do with AOL anymore and though much is to be said of him we will skip him for the time being.
Philadelphia Phillies:
David Montgomery has been the Principal owner of this team since 1997. As we've noted in many spreadsheets, this owner spends money and tries to put forth a winner on the field. The Phillies are owned by a large ownership group led by Bill Giles and team president Dave Montgomery. They bought the team in 1981 for $30 million. The team is now valued at $392 million per Forbes. They put $172 million towards the new park and saw their revenues double immediately. In fact they had their largest payroll ever at $94 million last year.
The big question is "why does a big market team produce such consistently poor teams?" Here is what some investigation has revealed:
Dissent is discouraged and the corporate culture is marked by suspicion, secrecy and an unrealistically sunny view of the short-term outlook. "It's too secretive. Everything is like the CIA there," one former executive said. "If you don't trust us, fire us. Like trades. The players know. The agents know. It's paranoia. They need to get more out in the open, be a little more honest with people."
There has been virtually no turnover among non-baseball executives. "They depend too much on their Phillies good-old-boy network," said the executive. "And I'm not talking just about the people in uniform, or who were in uniform. It's a stagnant organization. It's almost like somebody's got to die before they leave... It's the same bleepin' faces every year, from the parking-lot attendants on up."
Bill Giles was in charge prior to 1997 and it appears he did a poor job. They have improved under Mr. Montgomery's leadership and often challenge the Braves. They were also very slow in getting a new stadium which hurt them financially. Montgomery unfailingly describes himself as a club president who takes no active role in baseball decisions. Many people around the team, both past and present, contradict that. They say he is a micromanager who is deeply involved in every aspect of the organization.
It was very difficult to find any personal information about this guy.
New York Mets:
Fred Wilpon bought this team in 2002 for $394 million. Interesting enough, he is a former teammate of Sandy Koufax's at Brooklyn's Lafayette High School.
Research seems to indicate that though Mr. Wilpon is committed to winning, he is a medalling owner much like Steinbrenner and as he has slowly assumed more power. Over the years things have gotten worse. He seems to make one bad decision after the next. Recently we’ve heard these kind of statements "Omar Minaya would have " full autonomy" as the team's new general manager and president of baseball operations".
He is an a-political owner gives sparingly to whomever will win and thus be able to help his cause. Democrats and Republicans get an equal amount of his money.
He is also the largest investor in an investment group called $2 billion Sterling Stamos investment fund. From what I can find out he is decent and likeable guy.
Florida Marlins:
Jeffrey H. Loria bought the team in 2002 for $158 million. Remember that the prior owner had to pay $95 million for the franchise. The team is now valued at $206 million. Last year they had an operating profit of $3 million. He is an art dealer by trade who once lost in a bid to own the Orioles and he spent $75 million to own the Expos in 1999. A MLB ownership group bought the Expos from him for $120 million.
A review of internet articles shows him to be a less than savory character. His former partners in the Montreal Expos are suing Loria for fraud. The sale of the Expos prompted a RICO lawsuit by minority shareholders of the Expos. The suit accused Loria and his staff of conduct "that effectively destroyed the economic viability of baseball in Montreal. I think there is a long story their somewhere which will be saved for another day. He's trying to save money by slashing the fish mascot's salary in half. We also note that the Marlins have publicly stated that they are exploring options related to moving the team.
ESPN has ranked him number nine as one of sports 10 greediest owners. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/owners/greediest.html
The whole Expos-Marlins-Red Sox ownership deal looked awfully fishy. Loria failed to build a decent franchise in Montreal, so MLB bought the Expos, which Selig said were no longer worthy of existence, and then let their owner, Loria, buy another franchise. Meanwhile, Marlins owner John Henry takes his $150 million-plus chunk of change to buy a piece of the Red Sox. Is Loria interested in good teams, or just a good shell game?
Here is another article by a man who doesn’t care for Mr. Loria. http://herzy69.blogspot.com/2006/03/jeffrey-loria-is-scumbag.html
In short, while perusing the internet it's hard to find anyone who had anything nice to say about this guy and I think that means something.
Washington Nationals:
All 29 MLB owners own this team so there is no one to talk about.
St. Louis Cardinals:
William O. DeWitt, Jr is the 67 year old owner of this team. He is a noted George W. Bush campaign contributor, and is currently the managing partner and chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals. He earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a M.B.A. from Harvard University.
In 2000 he gave about $200,000 to Republicans. You will find that this man is a clear enemy of the left and villified on many left wing web sites. He is what Republicans call a "Ranger" or someone that has raised more than $200,000. Bush appointed DeWitt to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board on Wednesday. Known in intelligence circles as "Piffy-ab," the 16-person board is supposed to let the president know how the nation's intelligence agencies are performing and investigate where they've gone wrong. Believe or not, this guy is a member of the Republican Electoral College. So if a candidate wins the State of Ohio (where he lives) Mr. DeWitt gets the privilege of casting his electoral college vote for the Republican that wins.
Mr. DeWitt is a huge baseball fan and it is in his blood. He is a Board of Director for the Hall of Fame and his father was a career baseball executive and club owner with the St. Louis Browns, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox, has also been a minority owner of the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles and the Reds. He serves on the boards of a number of privately held companies and has worked in a number of civic and charitable organizations. DeWitt is a member of the board's Nominating and Development committees.
Dewitt joined Cincinnati investment firm Gradison & Co. in 1974. In 1979, along with Mercer Reynolds, he founded the investment firm Reynolds, DeWitt & Co.. The firm owns Arby's franchises and is an investor in Cincinnati, Ohio based U.S. Playing Card Company.
In 1995, DeWitt led a group of investors which bought the St. Louis Cardinals from the Busch family for $150 million. The franchise has since doubled in value, partially because of a surge in fan enthusiasm during and after the 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
DeWitt and his wife, Kathy, live in Indian Hill, Ohio and have four children.
Milwaukee Brewers:
This team was purchased in 2004 by Mark Attanasio for $223 million and is currently worth only $208 million. We note that the team earned $24 million in net income in 2005. Mr. Attanasio is an investment banker who grew up in New York City, graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in 1979 and received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1982.
He recently made news towards the end of the 2005 season by giving away game tickets to ensure a sellout. He doesn't appear to be a "butinski" type of owner and lets the manager and GM run the show. He sets strict budget numbers but isn't locked into this budgest strictly. He is a dynamic owner who has figured out a way to have sold 1.3 million tickets before the season even started. They are looking to exceed 2005 all time high of 2.2 million tickets. Corporate sponsor ship is way up and the Brewers appear to be a team on the move. Everything we read involves discussion of how the Brewers are continually thinking up ways to improve, either players, stadium, whatever.
As so many of the owners, he is a hyper motivated man who is on the Board of Directors of Global Crossings, the world largest telecommunications company. He made his millions running investment companies and he is very good at turning bad businesses around. Bob Uecker has been very impressed with this man and every one seems to be in agreement that Mr. Attanasio is great for Milwaukee and the team.
In political matters he is relatively a-political and gives very little to anyone. He tends to tilt to the left, as he gave John Kerry $2,000 in the 2004 primary campaign. This is such a small amount that it is difficult to tell what he believes in the polical arena.
On this whole this man appears to be an excellent edition to the current ownership fraternity and the Brewers should be quite happy to have him.
Chicago Cubs:
This is a corporately owned team, owned by the Tribune Company.
Houston Astros:
Drayton McLane, Jr. is the owner of this team. He bought the team in 1992 for $115 million. By the time he was nine he was working at his dad's grocery store learning the trade. He eventually earned a Master's degree from Michigan State in 1959. He built a $19 billion grocery distribution business. In 1990 he merged the company with Walmart and become a Vice Chairman at Walmart. He is involved in a huge host of civic and charitable institutions most notably the Boy Scouts and his list of civic activities would make for a very long paragraph. Of all the owners I've investigated he seems to be the most civic minded and good works oriented. He has two sons and is married to his original wife Elizabeth and is a Deacon at the First Baptist Church of Temple. In 2005 he was ranked 253 on the Forbes list of 400 wealthiest Americans.
Unlike many owners he was able to convince Houston to buy him a stadium. Public financing: $180 million, or 68 percent, from a 2 percent hotel tax and a 5 percent rental-car tax. Private financing: $52 million, or 20 percent, from Astros owners; $33 million, or 12 percent, from no-interest loan. Lease: 30 years (2000-2029); $7.1 million annually ($4.6 million rent; $2.5 million to capital improvements fund). He is one of the great owners who threatened to move the Astros if he didn't get his new stadium.
In the political arena, about 80% of his donations go to Republicans. He is yet another Republican owner that liberals can't stand and this is one place to go find out what he is up to politically and it turns out that it isn't much other than raise funds for Republicans. www.whitehouseforsale.org
He appears to be a very popular owner in the Houston area, in fact the most popular one I've run into yet.
Pittsburgh Pirates:
Kevin McClatchy is the owner and formed a group to purchase the franchise on February 14, 1996 for $85 million. He became the youngest owner in MLB. He is one of the few owners who truly inherited wealth. The family has owned newspapers and founded "The Sacramento Bee" newspaper in 1857, and they have more than 20 different newspapers in 10 states nationwide.
He is a busy man. This 43-year executive received a degree in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Is a member of the Board of Trustees at both schools...Honored by the Diocese of Pittsburgh's Northside Schools in November of 2002...Serves on the board of Catholic Charities, Sports City in Puerto Rico, the Roberto Clemente Foundation, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, McClatchy Newspapers and the Extra Mile Education Foundation…Is also involved with the United Way Foundation, the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and Animal Friends...Served as 2002 chairman for the Greater Pittsburgh Council, Boy Scouts of America "Scouting for Food" program...Was a member of Major League Baseball's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Baseball Economics. ...Presently is a member of MLB's Executive Council and its International Committee...Completed the 2002 Pittsburgh Marathon, thus raising over $90,000 towards cancer research in memory of Patti Burns, a long-time Pittsburgh newscaster...Was Co-Chairman of the 2002 Field of Dreams Gala to benefit Children's Hospital...Is a member of Dapper Dan Charities' Inner Circle.
At one time McClatchy was considered the savior of baseball in Pittsburgh, but now he has become the owner from hell. McClatchy is the anti-Midas. Everything he touches turns to dirt. He continually allows the best players to leave the team and he never signs any top-flight players. As for young players, none of the good ones seem to stay either. He is also the recipient of some very bad press. There is following petition to get rid of this owner http://www.petitiononline.com/oustkm/ The people of Pittsburgh bought this man, what many call the best stadium in baseball and he gives them nothing in return. There is an interesting article about the oddities of this owner, http://www.unitedstatesofbaseball.com/entry.asp?ENTRY_ID=101
He does not appear to be political and donates money equally to both parties, in fact whoever is in charge or likely to win gets his money, so he seems to be a man without any convictions. Who ever can help him gets his money.
He's an oddity in the Major Leagues system- someone who consistently delivers rotten baseball, only to receive lavish returns for his trouble. This team makes at least $10 million every year because of a great stadium and fan base. The team is worth about $218 million and makes money every year, so this owner has figured out a business that perpetually loses and wins at the same time. This year they have crafted one of the lowest payrolls in MLB.
I don't know what to say about this guy, on one hand he appears to be a decent, civic minded person. On the other hand he is clearly a bad owner who has no intention of putting a good product on the field and he appears to be sucking Pittsburgh dry for every penny he can get. In the end, I think I would like to see him go.
Cincinnati Reds:
This team is owned by Bob Castellini who became the CEO on Jan, 19, 2006. He has been involved in Major League Baseball for almost 30 years, including a minor ownership stake in the Reds as part of the Williams family interest until that interest was sold in 1984. Mr. Castellini became a partner in the Texas Rangers in 1989 and the Baltimore Orioles in 1993. Most recently, he was an investor in the St. Louis Cardinals.
He has been the chairman of Castellini Group of Companies since 1992, following tenures as executive vice president from 1967-70 and president from 1970-92. The Castellini businesses include perishable distribution, food processing, public warehousing, transportation logistics and leasing, basically a fruits and vegetables wholesaler, admittedly, not a sexy business.
He graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in economics and in 1967 received his MBA from Wharton Graduate School. Wharton is the Rolls Royce of business schools so this guy is a real brainiac.
In the political realm is a huge Republican fund raiser and donator. He has donated over $200,000 in the last election cycle and he is straight Republican and he donates to candidates all over the country.
He is from Cincinnati and is a lifelong Reds fan unlike many owners who are from somewhere else. His initial rhetoric leads us to believe he is truly committed to the city and producing a winning team and only time will tell. I have discovered that all owners talk a big game but few attempt to deliver. This appears to be a very good addition to the city of Cincinnati and it looks like Mr. Castellini will be an excellent owner and I look for the Reds to be very competitive in the coming years.
Los Angeles Dodgers:
Frank McCourt is the owner of this team and he is from Boston and is a hard-core Democrat who in the last election cycle gave about $100,000 to a wide variety of Democrats all over the country. He bought the team in 2004 for $371 million and it is now worth $424 million. He made his fortune as a real estate developer.
He immediately began to irritate people in LA and the Dodger fans now claim that McCourt has sent the team in a downward spiral since he bought the team. Many fans noticed the sudden changes in the look of Dodger Stadium, as he removed the famous strobe lights and fired the much-loved organ player.
McCourt's hiring of Paul DePodesta as general manager was also one of his largest mistakes. McCourt fired Dan Evans which is regarded as his biggest mistake. Evans had done an amazing job of bringing the Dodgers' to the top, and after his firing the team started to tank. Many die-hard fans saw the firing Evans and subsequent hiring of DePodesta as another cost-cutting measure. DePodesta did make many shrewd moves, but was criticized as paying too no attention to intangible factors such as clubhouse "chemistry" and tendency towards injury. DePodesta did an awful job picking up where Evans left off, and made many bad trades within the team. After the disastrous 2005 season, during which clubhouse strife and injuries sank the Dodgers to their second-worst record since moving to Los Angeles, manager Jim Tracy resigned while citing irreconcilable differences with DePodesta. Many people believe that that the 2005 season would of been avoided if McCourt would've hired someone who actually had people skills and an experience with baseball. McCourt fired Paul DePodesta less than a month later, and hired Ned Colletti to replace him.
The firing itself was also criticized by many, in that it was very abrupt and DePodesta was only in his second year of a 5-year contract. But others argued that it was DePodesta's hiring that had been the mistake, and McCourt made the best of a bad situation by starting anew. There have been reports that McCourt has been placing increased value on the advice of Tommy Lasorda, the longtime Dodgers manager who has been a (largely symbolic) vice president of the team since his retirement in 1996. But it is unclear how significant Lasorda's influence really is, just as there is disagreement as to whether such influence would be a good thing.
Many people have heard of McCourts reason for buying the team: to tear down the stadium and build multiple housing projects.
He bought the team with a great deal of debt and immediatley raised ticket prices, concession prices and cable TV rights. On the flip side he has spent a lot of money to develop a good team that I think will likely win the weak NL west. Also true to his word he has completely renovated the stadium making retro colors and the newly updated stadium seems to be to every ones liking.
It is too soon to evaluate this owner but at this stage of the game he does not appear to be bad and he might have had a bad first year. He does own the Dodgers who will always be able to outspend most teams so they should always be competive. He might end up being a good owner.
San Francisco Giants:
This team is owned by Peter Magowan who bought the team for $100 million in 1992. The team is now valued at $386 million. Magowan is also noted for spearheading the construction of the Giants' current home, SBC Park. Previously, several initiatives to build tax-supported stadiums had been rejected by San Francisco voters. Magowan and the Giants proposed building a privately funded ballpark - the first in the Major Leagues in decades - and despite some opposition, the plan was passed easily by the voters. Pacific Bell Park opened in 2000, replacing the oft-criticized Candlestick Park. Already, I like this guy for building a stadium without public money.
Prior to purchasing the Giants, Magowan served as Chairman and CEO of the Bay Area-based supermarket chain Safeway. He is also a Director of Caterpillar Inc., DaimlerChrysler AG, and Spring Group plc. Mr. Magowan has been a director of Caterpillar since 1993. He is not a self made millionaire as his father before him was the CEO of Safeway.
His political contributions are relatively meager given his wealth, but he donates to all California politicians and since they are Democrats they get the money. He gave small amounts to President Bush and not his opposition which leads me to believe he may be a Republican. He appears to donate to California Democrats so as to be taken care of when the need arrises.
Mr. Magowans payroll philosphy is to break even. As a fan I like that, don't loose money but spend enough to break even and be competitive. Clearly, for the past five years the Giants have been quite competitive. Note, five years equals Barry Bonds, steroid years. Coincedence? Just think about it. Last year without Bonds they were not competitive. In fact the attendance has been so good because of Bonds. Many people believe the once Bonds leaves the team value will decline.
On the whole, this appears to be a good owner who truly wants to be field a winning product, the people of San Francisco seem to like him and he recieves very little negative press.
San Diego Padres:
This team is owned by John Moores who bought the team in 1995 for $94 million. Moores is described as a prolific philanthropist, devoted family man, and committed volunteer trustee of numerous institutions, including the regents of the University of California, the Scripps Research Institute. He is a native of Texas and received both a bachelor's and law degree from the University of Houston. He worked as a computer programmer for several companies, including IBM and Shell Oil, while completing his education. In 1980, Mr. Moores founded BMC Software. He wrote software products at BMC that improved mainframe computer operating system performance and built BMC into a significant factor in the software industry. He served as chief executive officer of BMC until 1987 and chairman until 1992. He also founded the River Blindness Foundation in 1989 to distribute a treatment for that disease in developing countries, principally in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to major gifts to the University of California at San Diego, San Diego State University, the University of Houston, the Scripps Research Institute, and The Carter Center, Mr. Moores has made gifts of more than $1 million to St. Vincent de Paul of San Diego; San Diego Zoo; The Children's Clinic of the Californias, Tijuana, Mexico; San Diego Center for Children, San Diego Unified School District; National Multiple Sclerosis Society; and the American Civil Liberties Union, among other organizations.
He and his wife, Becky, have been married since 1963 and have four children and four grandchildren.
He appears to be primarily a Democrat (has law degree, lawyers are primarily Democrats) and given about $200,000 almost exclusively to Democrats in the last two years. He also clearly gives huge sums of money to charitable institutions and politicians who then immediately begin assisting him in obtaining a publicly funded stadium. One political friend magically made $7,500 when she invested in one of Moore's new start up companies. He is also involved in another company he headed called Peregrine that lost investors a great deal of money and the law suits are flying. There are about 30 lawsuits pending and Moores stands to lose many millions of dollars. The lawsuits add up to over $1 billion. In fact Moores, was named the 18th "most greediest executive" in the September issue of Fortune Magazine for cashing out hundreds of millions in Peregrine stock. Between Oct. 29, 1997 to Feb. 28, 2001, Moores sold 18,815,966 shares for $611.4 million in 100 documented trades, according to SEC filings. Still, Forbes recently estimated the team's value at $207 million and placed Moores on its list of 400 richest Americans for the first time this year, calculating his net worth at $740 million.
This owner appears to be Dr. Jeckell and Mr. Hyde. On the one hand he giveth and then he taketh away. It will be interesting to see how the lawsuit play out and of course, MLB is very worried.
Arizona Diamondbacks:
This owner of the DBacks is Jeff Moorad. He made his money and name as a sports agent and the list of big name clients is quite long. He is native of Modesto, California, Moorad earned an Associate in Arts degree from Modesto Junior College in 1976, where he served as Student Body President, a degree in Political Science (B.A.) in 1978 from UCLA, then received his law degree from Villanova University School of Law (J.D.) in 1981. Jeff and his wife, Jan, have three sons and now split their time residing both in the Valley of the Sun and Newport Beach, CA.
He took over a tough team with massive debt Moorad was brought in as CEO-elect late last season after Jerry Colangelo sold his controlling share to the current four general partners and stepped down as the team's chairman. Moorad's participation is part of an overall financial and physical restructuring of the franchise, which is close to $200 million in debt on deferred player contracts, payments on Bank One Ballpark and other loans. Upon his approval, Moorad will inject about $50 million in capital to the team, which also last year raised $99 million over 10 years by selling 33 minority partnerships.
Baseball is a tough sell in Phoenix and they don't have a natural fan base, but in spite of that they sell well. The people of Phoenix originally declined to build a stadium for Colangilo and eventually under the cover of darkness, the Phoenix City council pass legislation authorizing as tax to build a stadium. In 2002 they had 3.2 million, in 2003 they had 2.8 million, 2004 they had 2.5 million and they dropped to 2.0 million last year. They have over the last three years out drawn the Rockies.
Mr. Moorad is a Republican who has given very small amount to Republicans only. It will be interesting to see how an agent will control spending and at the same time develop a winning team. My guess is that we won't see the Diamondbacks winning as much now that they have to control spending with a team salary of about $60 million. As there attendance numbers decline they will have an even tougher time. Mr. Moorad seems like a hypermotivated smart owner who will work diligently to produce a good product. He is probably a net gain for MLB.
Most of the information in this article comes from Forbes magazine and these links below:
http://www.answers.com
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com
http://www.baseball-reference.com
http://www.newsmeat.com
http://www.commoncause.org
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org