Baseballhead:
A Flat Bud

Michael Cox

Hi-de-ho, dear buds, and welcome to Baseballhead, the column that is personally going to walk over and punch the CEO of the next company to declare their non-computer-based product "Y2K Ready."

A half-dozen GMs left their meetings last week wearing t-shirts inscribed, "I went to the Ken Griffey Jr. auction and all I got was this stupid t-shirt." However, not everyone left empty-handed. The Dodgers got an overpriced but potential-laden youngster, the Cards got Pat Hentgen, and the Blue Jays got hosed.

Also, the group looking to buy the Royals received an unpleasant surprise: after metaphorically saying, "erm, ahh," for months commissioner Bud Selig told them he really doesn't want them in his club after all. Naturally, this came as somewhat of a surprise after Selig said at the September owners' meetings that he needed the results of unnamed "studies" before he could make a decision.

Unfortunately, Miles Prentice didn't give up when faced by an indefinite wait, so Selig had to resort to Plan B: tell him that it wasn't going to happen. The factors cited (by lackeys, as Bud's much too busy telling Rawlings to keep the balls wound extra tight to deal with such minutiae himself) were reasonable, on the face of it: lack of capital and too many in the ownership group. However, those reasons hold up about as well as a protective cup made of Jell-O.

First, there is plenty of money in the Prentice group -- Prentice himself has the cash to buy the team. And speaking of cash, wasn't it Selig who had a difficult time coming up with a similar amount of money to finance the Brewers' part of Miller Park? Pot.kettle.black is having a field day.

Second, of course the ownership group was large, because Prentice had to bring in Kansas City residents to make up most of the group. A stellar lot including golfer Tom Watson and former Negro leagues star Buck O'Neil, it was still many less than the group currently owning the Indians, which includes thousands of day traders.

Real reasons for the rejection? While no one can be sure of exactly what's bouncing around Selig's cranium, reasonable guesses include too much community ownership, a commitment to not ask for upgrades to the beautiful Kauffman Stadium, and probably the most likely, a too-low selling price. If you believe that the owners of MLB teams mainly do it for the capital appreciation, it's not a stretch to consider that the Royals' sale might have a negative impact on several other clubs' asking prices, including the Brewers.

The positive side to this is that Prentice has come out to say he won't back down, a move likely intended as much to embarrass Selig as to buy the team. I'm all for it.

Item: Speaking of the Tribe, their impending sale is likely to be approved because it involves an astronomical asking price and an owner (Larry Dolan) who is expected to fit right in with the ol' boys' club. In retrospect Richard Jacobs is getting out at the right time -- if there was ever a time when the team's fortunes could possibly take a downturn, it's during the next couple of years. Jacobs came, he saw, he cleaned up.

Poetic justice is also done: he couldn't get a World Series ring out of it.

Item: Wade Boggs retired this week, proving that he is an intelligent man. With nothing more to prove, his goals achieved and knowing that the future would hold little more than continued injuries and basement-dwelling teams, Boggs quit while he can still be considered one of the better third basemen in major-league history.

He has a World Series ring (which most Red Sox fans I know didn't begrudge him, despite his having to jump to the Bronx to do it) and the requisite 3000 hits, so we'll be seeing Boggs again in 2004, under a tent in central Cooperstown.

Item: Bret Boone won't demand a trade from the Braves. I'm not sure who was stupider: Boone for even considering looking his gift horse in the mouth, or the media for thinking he'd actually do it.

I'll be back next week with a bit of a look back on the season, so until then keep on rockin' in the free world.

about the author

Alas, Michael Cox retired just 3000 hits short of the magical 3000, meaning he's a very long shot for the Hall of Fame. He also didn't play the required ten years, but don't let that stop you from sending an appeal on his behalf to mc@strikethree.com.