Newspaper Page Text
Griffin Daily News Tuesday, April 25,1972
Page 6
A look at baseball owners
Diamonds businessman’s best friend
By IRA BERKOW
NEA Sports Editor
NEW YORK - (NEA) -
Some 25 years ago, when
owner Branch Rickey of the
Brooklyn Dodgers signed
Jackie Robinson as the first
black man in organized base
ball, a vote was called by
the 16 baseball club owners.
Was there a future for the
black man in big-league
baseball?
Fifteen of the owners
voted “No!”
Prologue and epilogue to
the spirit, acumen, foresight,
altruism and guts of the bulk
of baseball owners.
It was a typical case of
the owners trying to have
their apple pie and eat it,
too While fanning the notion
that baseball was “The
American Pastime” and
symbolized democracy in ac
tion, the owners still rejected
the concept that all men are
created equal.
In fact, the owners, almost
since the beginning of pro
fessional baseball, have
treated the players as hire
lings to be manipulated at
will and have held the fans
in high-handed contempt.
Owners such as Charles
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Branch Rickey
Finley, Bob Short, the late
Lou Perini and Bill Bartholo
may have appealed, with
tambourine in hand, to local
fans’ patriotism. They ask
for team support and never
mind rising ticket prices.
Then, with bleats of creep
ing bankruptcy, these own
ers slink on to ever-greener
outfields in other sucker
cities.
Meanwhile, under a 1922
Supreme Court ruling that
put baseball outside the pale
of antitrust rulings, the own
ers have cried “Sport,
sport," contending that base
ball is not a business.
Nothing new. In hjs excel
lent history, “Baseball: The
Golden Age,” Dr. Harold
Seymour quotes two owners
in 1919:
President W. F. Baker of
John Edwards likes
By VITO STELLINO
The Houston Astros moved
their fences in this year for Lee
May but the guy who took
advantage of the shorter target
Monday night was John Ed
wards.
Edwards, who had only one
homer all last season, hit a
liner to rightcenter that cleared
the new short right field fence
for a homer off Ferguson
Jenkins with one out in the 11th
inning. It gave the surging
Astros a 3-2 victory over the
sagging Chicago Cubs and a
share of first place in the
National League West.
“I couldn’t tell it was a home
run when I hit it,” Edwards
said. “This just doesn’t happen
to me. I just wanted to make
sure I tagged the bases. I can’t
remember hitting a homer in
la ' w
"ifll
Bob Short
the Phillies, on the threat
ened strike of players for
better pay and working con
ditions: "Baseball is a sport,
and the same conditions can
not be applied as are re
sorted to by labor unions in
other lines."
Yankee owner Col. Tilling
hast Huston, in a secret
meeting with owners to
place a ceiling on players’
salaries: “The players can
sign at the salaries offered
or not at all . . . (The New
York club will now be
placed) on a strictly busi
ness basis.”
“The club owners,” wrote
Seymour, “had long since
unionized and now had one
of the strongest organiza
tions in the country.”
"The owners,” said Sey
mour recently, “have always
extra innings to win a game.”
Ken Forsch matched Jenkins,
allowing five hits for nine
innings including Ron Santo’s
two-run homer in the first
inning. Santo’s homer to center
also probably wouldn’t have
been a homer last year.
Jim Ray pitched the last two
innings in relief for the Astros
to gain the victory as Chicago
suffered its sixth straight loss.
McGill dies
PASADENA, Calif (UPI) -
James C. McGill, a prominent
California horse racing official
and onetime owner of minor
league baseball teams in
Indianapolis and Denver, died
Monday at the age of 91.
McGill served as a paddock
judge when Santa Anita Park
opened in 1934.
I
B fl
Bill Bartholomay
wanted to have it both ways.
"Today, for example, they
tell us how baseball attend
ance is greater than ever
and still growing, but they
cry poor mouth at the same
time.
“They say that 13 of the
24 clubs are losing money.
That’s what they tell us. But
they refuse to show their
books. Even if they did,
though, it might not make
much sense. You can do all
kinds of things with account
ing.
“The clubs now, for in
stance, list 20 per cent of
their income to operations—
which includes salaries. But
they tend to lump their own
salaries and other execu
tives’ salaries into that fig
ure. And they also have gen-
Jenkins, shooting for his sixth
straight 20-victory season, is
now 0-2.
In the only other game
Monday night, Texas outlasted
California, 6-4. The Detroit at
Milwaukee game was postponed
because of cold weather.
Blalock in front
ATLANTA (UPI) -Jane Bla
lock continues as the leader in
this year’s Ladies Professional
Golf Association money race
with earnings of $23,748.
Carol Mann, who finished
third in this past weekend’s
Birmingham (Ala.) Centennial
golf classic, while Miss Blalock
was finishing 21st, earned $2,365
to raise her season’s winnings
to $22,941, good for second
place.
Bill Veeck
erous expense accounts and
provide themselves with var
io u s ’operating expenses'
like automobiles for their
private use.”
Seymour questions the
owners contention that many
teams “perennially lose
money.” "These are multi
millionaires, big business
men who own teams," he
said. “You can’t stay in busi
ness year after year and lose
money. For example. CBS,
which owns the Yankees;
August Busch, who owns An
heuser-Busch breweries, and
Finley, a great insurance
magnet, use their teams as
tax write-offs.”
Bill Veeck, once owner of
the Indians, White Sox and
fencing game
Texas completed a four-game
sweep of its first home series
ever by downing California. But
the Rangers don’t seem to be
capturing the interest of the
fans and only 5,561 showed up
at Arlington Stadium. By
contrast, 13,905 came to the
Astrodome to see the Astros.
California committed three
errors to help pave the way for
its fifth straight loss although
all of the Texas runs were
Here’s Your Chance fl
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11 I
What Usually Happens When What Does Happen When Above I
Ground Burial Is Made. Ground Entombment Is Made. I
(n~ 1
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IBIS BURIAL VAULT AND CASKET WERE BOTH THIS CASKET HAD BEEN PLACED IN A
FULL OF GROUND WATER AFTER BEING BURIED PERMANENT-CLEAN-DRY CRYPT IN OAK HILL
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made Notice how the water, pouring from the casket, had plastered over with cement mortar. Resetting of the
washed holes in, and saturated the ground as it ran off to marble door then completed the entombment. This
the left. (After being completely drained, the casket was method of sealing gives double protection against the
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St. Louis Browns, agrees. In
his boo k, "The Hustler’s
Handbook,” he details the
complicated method in which
rich businessmen buy ball
clubs on behalf of a corpo
rate empire and then “use
the depreciation write-off (of
players) on total corporate
profits even if the ball club
itself hasn’t made enough
profit to cover it."
And. of course, the ramifi
cations for a businessman
baseball owner are incalcul
able in a profit-and-loss
statement. As Short, owner
of the Washington Senators-
Texas Rangers, has said,
"Sportspage i d e n t i f i c a
tion helps my trucking busi
ness so much that (my ball
club) will be worth the price
(he paid $9 million for it in
1969) if they just manage to
break even."
And it’s rather easy to
at least break even, espe
cially when shifts of fran
chises and. then, the profit
, able spiraling of selling
clubs from one wealthy con
, glomerate owner to another
can, under tax loopholes,
duck the Internal Revenue
, Service.
■ “It is quite possible for a
, big-league club to go on for
ever without ever paying
any income tax,” said Bill
1 Veeck. “The owners play
i the Star-Spangled Banner’
i before every game. You
want them to pay income
taxes, too?”
f
| (NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
officially earned. Toby Harrah
scored the first Texas run in
the fifth inning on a single by
pitcher Don Stanhouse and
singled in two more in the sixth
after first baseman Jim Spen
cer booted a potential double
play grounder by Joe Lovitto.
Larry Biittner then singled in
the two deciding runs in the
seventh. The final run scored
on a bases loaded walk by
reliever Lloyd Allen.
Standings
By United Press International
National League
East
W. L. Pct. GB
Montreal 5 1 .833
New York 4 2 .667 1
Philadelphia 4 3 .571 1%
Pittsburgh 4 3 .571 Is 4
St. Louis 2 6 .250 4
Chicago 2 7 .222 .4%
West
W. L. Pct. GB
Houston 7 2 .778 ...
Los Angeles 7 2 .778 ...
San Diego 4 5 .444 3
San Francisco 4 5 .444 3
Atlanta 3 7 .300
Cincinnati 2 5 .286 4
Monday’s Results
Hous 3 Chicago 2, 11 inns
(Only game scheduled)
Today’s Probable Pitchers
By United Press International
National League
(AU Times EST)
New York (Capra 0-0) at San
Diego (Arlin 0-2), night, 10:30
p.m.
Cincinnati (Merritt 0-0) at
Pittsburgh (Johnson 0-0), 8:05
p.m.
St. Louis (Gibson 0-1) at
Atlanta (Niekro 0-2), 8:05 p.m.
Chicago (Hooton 1-1) at
Houston (Reuss 1-0), 8:30 p.m.
Montreal (Morton 0-0) at Los
Angeles (Sutton 2-0), 11 p.m.
Philadelphia (Carlton 2-0) at
San Francisco (Marichal 1-1),
11 p.m.
Griffin Headquarters For
recuna I
ROCKERS I
Large Selection 1
wXx St * ,es ’ Colors
COVERS
GOODE-NICHOLS J
206-208 South Hill St. Phone 227-9436 R
American League
East
W. L. Pct. GI
Baltimore 5 3 .621
Cleveland 4 3 .571 ¥.
Boston 3 3 .500 1 ►
Detroit 3 3 .500 1 :
Milwaukee 2 3 .400 1% :
New York 2 4 .333 2 1
West
W. L. Pct. GB-
Oakland 4 2 .667'
Chicago 5 3 .625
Texas .5 3 .625 1
Minnesota 3 2 .600 $4)
Kansas City 3 6 .333 2%'
California 2 6 .250 3 1
Monday’s Results
Detroit at Milw, ppd, cold 1
Texas 6 California 4
(Only games scheduled)
Today’s Probable Pitchers
American League
(AU Times EST) ,
Boston (Pattin 0-2) at Minne- 5
sota (Perry 0-1), 2:15 p.m.
Baltimore (Dobson 2-0) at.
Kansas City (Drago 0-1), 8:30
p.m. ,
Detroit (Lolich 1-1) at Texas
(Paul 0-0), 8:30 p.m.
Cleveland (Wilcox 1-1) at
Chicag (Wood 2-0), 9 p.m. .
California (Wright 0-2) at J
Milwaukee (Brett 0-1), 8:30 ,
p.m. ’
Oakland (Hunter 0-1) at New
York (Kline 1-0), 7:30 p.m.