March 10-12, 1952
Onto the National League
Cincinnati Reds - Powel Crosley Jr
1951: 68-86
Much like Bill Veeck in St. Louis, Mr. Crosley is an innovator unafraid to shake up the establishment. He’s an automobile manufacturer who pioneered in radio and television, a man who brought night baseball to America. His Reds may not be the flashiest sort, and they certainly could spend more money, but they have remained vital to the game’s evolution.
Still, they could be better, not having a winning campaign since 1944. Crosley knows it, too, and while he’s a bit older now and likes to fish more than attend a ballgame, he thinks shaking things up could be good.
“What sorts of ideas do you have, Mr. Commissioner?” he asks. He’s genial, interested, a thinker.
I tell him I’m looking into the horizon. I tell him baseball’s future is nationwide and young, and he agrees.
“It is a young man’s game,” he deduces. “It needs bright lights and good makeup, right?”
He speaks my language.
Chicago Cubs - Philip K. Wrigley
1951: 62-92
The Comiskey family might own the South Side, but the Wrigleys own Chicago. Philip, or P.K., is part of the line of Wrigley succession, and now runs the very chewing gum company that his father ran about 20 years ago, before his death.
The thing is P.K. cares more about gum than baseball.
“I enjoy the sport,” he tells me, “but I much more enjoy making money and living a refined lifestyle.”
At least he’s honest. But he’s good with the Cubs in that he has extended their reach via radio and television. He believes in the power of TV and thinks capitalizing on it is necessary. I obviously agree. But like Crosley in Cincinnati, he can’t bring that sort of ingenuity to the field. Those Cubs haven’t been too good in history, their last good seasons in 1945 and ‘46. They won the pennant in the former year.
Nevertheless, I’d like to see a successful franchise in Chicago.
Pittsburgh Pirates - John W. Galbreath
1951: 64-90
Here’s a mensch. I find little to be perturbed by when it comes to Galbreath, a wealthy man to be sure, but seemingly charitable and good to his people.
Galbreath took over as majority leader in 1950 after coming into the game a few years previous with an ownership group that included Bing Crosby. He loves baseball, just adores it, but doesn’t seem to meddle too much in affairs. He’s also a massive horse racing fan (he meddles in that more). So he’s not out to bring down racing like me, but he is a believer that robust farm systems help grow the game. He brought in Branch Rickey to be his general manager in ‘50, which hasn’t yet paid dividends, but he does have a solid minor league in place now.
The issue with Pittsburgh is it’s a little small town. So is Cincinnati. But both clubs are mainstays in the National League; nothing will move them for the foreseeable future. Certainly not their owners.
Philadelphia Phillies - Bob Carpenter
1951: 73-81
A young man. Carpenter is 36, yet already an eight-year veteran of owning a sports franchise. His family has big money, and he helped save the Phillies from extinction. Since coming aboard, the Phils have built a solid farm system, spent more money, and have even won games. It’s a vastly different club.
The thing with Carpenter, though, is he doesn’t like change. “Players should be seen and not heard,” he tells me.
On the Athletics, Carpenter says he has admiration for Connie Mack, who got him into sports ownership. He hopes the A’s can turn things around in town, but he doubts the meddling brothers. “They’re a wild sort. I’m worried it won’t end well there.” Also, he’d love to see about a new ballpark in Philadelphia, but that he doesn’t want to leave Mack in the lurch.
The Phillies are relatively healthy and a good sort. Glad to see that, so far, the National League has fewer issues to iron out.
Boston Braves - Lou Perini
1951: 76-78
This Boston contractor loves his city and his ballclub, which he owns with two other partners, Joe Maney and Guido Rugo. Problem is the Braves don’t draw. Aside from a three-year period when they brought in over 1 million fans, they’ve consistently been paltry in this arena. In 1950 they drew 944,391. Fine. In 1951? 487,475. Nearly cut in half.
“I’m trying what I can, I assure you,” says Perini. “We have a good young team with a 20-year-old named Mathews. We have some fine pitching. Warren Spahn … it’s a good club, really.”
The guy is heartfelt, and I appreciate his candor. I tell him Boston may be fit for one club, but I’ll help him this year figure it out.
“Have you thought about moving the club?” I ask.
“Well, of course. You have to think about it. But it’s the last thing I want to do.”
They play at Braves Field, which is falling apart down in the western part of the city. I ask if he’s thought about trying to broker a deal to play at Fenway Park, like the Phillies do in Philadelphia and the Cardinals do in St. Louis.
“I’ve never broached the subject to Mr. Yawkey,” he says. “I’m pretty certain he likes things the way they are in town.”
St. Louis Cardinals - Fred Saigh
1951: 81-73
The Cardinals have long been successful and do quite well in St. Louis. In fact, their last season under .500 was 1938. Before that, 1932. Before that, 1924. That’s quite a track record.
“We’re quite proud of the ballclub we have here,” says Saigh, owner for the past few years. That said, his team hasn’t won the National League since 1946, when it won the World Series. For Saigh, that’s an issue.
“We have to be at the top. It’s our nature.”
Saigh, along with Del Webb, led the ouster of my predecessor Happy Chandler. While Saigh doesn’t quite have the same darkness about him as Webb, he certainly knows what he wants - in the Cardinals’ case, it’s to remain vital in the National League. One future hope is to build a new ballpark in St. Louis for his team alone. Also, he’d love to see Bill Veeck and the Browns get out of town.
“You work for me and we’ll be in good shape,” he says. “I’m counting on you.”
Brooklyn Dodgers - Walter O’Malley
1951: 97-60
Mr. O’Malley walks in and immediately says: “Whatever the hell Galbreath is telling you about Branch, it’s a lie. You got it?”
I’ve heard that O’Malley and Branch Rickey have an incompatible relationship. The former low-balled the latter last year, leading to Rickey moving on and then becoming general manager in Pittsburgh. O’Malley doesn’t like a lot of things Rickey did - he’s not even very fond of Jackie Robinson, wild as that sounds.
Nevertheless, he’s not a bad guy … he just doesn’t like Branch Rickey. What he does like are a lot of the things I also like: television, modernization, outward expansion of his franchise’s reputation. The Dodgers are a winning club (though they’ve never actually won a World Series), and he believes they should be represented well.
I’d like to see what else he does with this franchise.
New York Giants - Horace Stoneham
1951: 98-59
Son of Charles Stoneham and owner for 15 years, Horace has done much to push the game forward. He was right there with the Dodgers on integration, he was an early champion of television, and he and Veeck were first to move spring training to Arizona from Florida.
“I believe this game has the upmost potential,” he tells me, “and I’m here to see that through.”
He’s warm and passionate. His team is strong, too, winning the National League last season. But I hear he can be a little too close to his team’s day-to-day business. He says he just can’t stand not to be with the ballclub. I like passion, but baseball men should be baseball men.
Group Discourse
In our group session, I get a real sense of how things go between these men.
The American League is loud but disorganized, while the National League attempts to unify despite some small quibbles. Del Webb keeps quiet and seems to do his business in private, while much of the time Clark Griffith of Washington is on about something he’s proud of, or Ellis Ryan of Cleveland is shouting that his club will beat down the Yankees in 1952. Bill Veeck of the Browns keeps quiet and laughs, though you can sense he and Fred Saigh of the Cardinals don’t get along.
They want to all know what I aim to do, and I say I’m here to shepherd the game into more prosperous times. I tell them that we should find ways to leverage television and an America vastly growing into the suburbs. “This is very much an urban sport,” I say, “but at some point it won’t be a sport for simply the urban.” Some agree, while others don’t seem to love the statement.
Still, I try to keep political early on. No need to ruffle feathers.
When it comes to ruling on matters, we uphold the guideline that states all majority owners in the league affected must be 100 percent in agreement, while all majority owners in the opposite league must at least be at 51 percent agreement.
Essentially, that means that if, say, the Yankees wanted to move to Portland, Maine, they would need every American League owner to sign off on it, while also getting five of the eight National League owners to say yes.
We finish the three days by setting goals our next meeting, which will be in one quarter, during June 1952.
Those goals:- Create a regional blueprint that recognizes secondary and tertiary cities currently holding or in need of minor league clubs.
- Ongoing: Discuss ideas for rule changes and game tweaks.
- For Mr. Veeck, St. Louis: Present three options for a potential franchise move.
- For Mr. Mack, Philadelphia: Update on 10-step plan to be presented during all-star festivities.