As anybody who reads stuff here with any regularity knows, I’m a diehard Dodgers fan. I remember all the way back to when the letter on the cap was a “B” and I’ve been proud to admit my team loyalty. I’m not sure that last part is still true.
I saw an article on ESPN that listed the ten worst owners ever and put Frank McCourt second to Harry Frazzee, of sell Babe Ruth to the Yankees fame. They’re wrong. There are all those 19th Century owners who ran two franchises and gutted one to make the other a potential contender. Take a look at the 1899 Cleveland Spiders and tell me that guy wasn’t a first-rate jerk of an owner. But they aren’t wrong by much. McCourt is destroyed one of the true flagship franchises in baseball. I’d rank them second to the Cardinals in the National League (but not by much) and behind only the Yankees in the American League.
Of course McCourt has had a lot of help. His wife is a real jewel. She wants “diversity” in the front office, not competence. The scouting bureau isn’t anything to write home to mom about either. Those guys they went out and drafted are the best they can do? God help my team. Jim Varney’s old “Ernest” character could have done better (at least “Ernest” would have been trying to do the right thing). Bud Selig wanted Fox out so badly, he endorsed McCourt (at least tacitly) and now Selig wants to be seen as acting in the best interest of the game? Gimme a break. Actually I’m rooting for Selig in this one. The idea of taking the front money from the Fox deal and using it for a divorce (God, where’s Tammy Wynette when we need her?) instead of for players is so awful that I think Selig got this one right. And that’s how bad this situation has become, I’m now praising Selig.
I have no idea what’s going to ultimately happen in this mess (is “mess” too nice a word for this?), except that somebody new is going to take over my team. Hopefully, he (she–why not a woman?) will know what he’s doing. Frankly he/she can’t do any worse, at least I don’t think they can.
Tags: Babe Ruth, Bud Selig, Frank McCourt, Harry Frazzee, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tammy Wynette
Verdun2's Blog 
June 29, 2011 at 2:30 pm
I feel your pain. My Twins, according to that list, had one of the 10 worst owners in baseball history from 1955-2009. I would say to be hopeful about the Dodgers. Harry Frazee and all of those 19th Century owners remain dead, so it is unlikely it could get worse. But they are the Dodgers; their capacity for mind-blowing ineptitude can always surprise.
July 1, 2011 at 11:35 pm
As someone who grew up in LA rooting for the Dodgers, it’s hard to believe what has gone on over there. I remember when their farm system was the jewel of baseball and they would churn out rookies of the year with regularity. What a fate to end up a Mets and Dodgers fan.