At least we know Selig has a strong track record against nepotism. Eh? Oh.
I was thinking about the McLane-Selig bi-polar similarities this morning.
1.) Bud Selig was a hero in Milwaukee initially, for buying the floundering Seattle Pilots franchise and moving it to Milwaukee just weeks before the 1970 season. This restored major league baseball (more or less) to a city that had seen the beloved Braves run away to Atlanta only a few years before.
1a.) Drayton McLane was a hero initially for buying the Astros from an absentee owner who had clearly lost interest in the franchise, had rented the home field out to the Republicans for a month the previous season so that the team was forced to go on a month-long road trip in August, and who had even intimated he might move the Astros elsewhere. Upon assuming control, McLane said he would never move the team, and immediately pushed for the FA signings of local boys Doug Drabek and Greg Swindell, his statement and both moves making long suffering Houston baseball fans ecstatic.
2.) After several false steps initially, Selig eventually put in place a top-notch organization, led by well-respected GM Rollie Hemond. The team combined a series of shrewd trades and FA signings with good young players coming up from their farm system, and made it to the World Series for the first time in their history in 1982, the 13th year after Selig bought them.
2a.) After several false steps initially, McLane eventually put in place a top-notch organization, led by up-and-coming GM Gerry Hunsicker. The team combined a series of shrewd trades and FA signings with good young players coming up from their farm system, and made it to the World Series for the first time in their history in 2005, the 13th year after McLane bought them.
3.) Immediately after their great 1982 season, the Brewers went into steep decline, as the meddlesome and now penurious Selig starved the team of cash, and the organization fell apart. Brewers fans suffered through very meiocre teams for the next 20+ years, before the most recent regime began the moves that brought the team finally back to respectability.*
3a.) Immediately after their great 2005 season, the Astros went into
steep decline, as the meddlesome and now penurious McLane starved the team of cash, and the organization
fell began to fall apart.
*The only season in the interim in which the Brewers were a contender (1992), the team was managed by. . . Phil Garner.
I could have gone on, but I believe at that point it was
I who needed Altoids.
